Calls for “data strike” on May 1st: no social media, no AI, no streaming services

Organizers of the data strike call for withholding data from technological companies by logging off from their digital services.

The data strike will take place on May 1st, International Workers’ Day, when groups call for a nationwide “no work, no school, no shopping” strike across the United States.

“What the technocratic class doesn’t want you to know is that your data is your labor too. Withhold it,” the data strike organizers say.

Participants are urged to abstain from using social media, AI, and streaming services to fight against digital surveillance and data harvesting.

Clara Fulks, a CEO of North Star Strategies and the data strike’s organizer, says she fears that people participating in the general strike will spend the day sitting inside and looking at screens.

“Taking the day off work to watch Short Form Portrait Videos all day only lines the pockets of the companies and systems we say we're striking, which is why we need to include a data strike in our general strike,” Fulks wrote in her Instagram post.

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The strike comes as technological companies are under increasing scrutiny. A Los Angeles court just ruled that Meta, as well as Alphabet’s Google were negligent for designing social media platforms in a way that are harmful and addictive to young people.

Eight in ten (81%) Americans say they are concerned about how companies use the data they collect about them, according to a 2023 Pew Research survey.

The growing adoption of AI further heightens the concerns over the power technological companies have over our lives. A recent poll found that only 26% of Americans say they feel positive about AI, and 57% they believe the risks of the technology outweigh its benefits.

The strike is an addition to an ongoing boycott of OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT, following revelations that the company’s president, Greg Brockman, donated $25 million to the Donald Trump campaign.

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