In a political environment roiled by violence in Minneapolis and an expanding federal immigration enforcement campaign, marketing professor, entrepreneur, and author Scott Galloway is urging a very different form of protest: a coordinated economic boycott of major tech and AI companies to pressure policy change.
Galloway’s “Resist and Unsubscribe” campaign, recently launched, frames consumer spending as the most effective way to influence the Trump administration’s approach to immigration enforcement, especially actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that have sparked widespread public outrage.
The idea behind the movement is simple: if street protests and media criticism have failed to move policymakers, a decline in corporate revenues might.
A core premise of the campaign is that President Donald Trump “responds to markets,” not public outrage or court rulings.
Fueling the Backlash: Recent Violence
The backdrop to this call for economic pressure is a wave of criticism over federal enforcement actions in Minneapolis.
In recent weeks, federal immigration agents have been involved in fatal shootings of U.S. citizens during enforcement operations in Minneapolis, most notably the killing of ICU nurse Alex Pretti, which have triggered protests and growing legal scrutiny.
Pretti was shot and killed by federal immigration officers during an enforcement operation; video and reporting suggested he was holding only a phone moments before the fatal encounter, challenging initial claims that he posed an imminent threat.
The Strategy: Targeting Tech Giants and ICE Partners
Galloway argues that concentrating on consumer behavior instead of street demonstrations gives Americans a leverage point they have overlooked.
On the official Resist and Unsubscribe site, he wrote that the Trump administration has marched “unchecked” on controversial policies and that Americans “have a powerful weapon that has been hiding in plain sight.”
The campaign is built around what he calls a “month-long national economic strike.”
It’s a coordinated plan to pause spending on services from companies that hold major economic sway and are seen as aligned with federal power structures.
The strategy targets subscription-driven tech and AI firms whose services are woven into everyday life, from streaming platforms to cloud services.
Among the suggested actions are unsubscribing from services such as Amazon Prime, Apple TV, YouTube Premium, Microsoft Office, Netflix, Uber One, and AI tools, including ChatGPT Plus.
Galloway and his supporters argue that even modest reductions in consumer spending on these platforms could ripple across markets.
In a YouTube video posted on his Prof G Pod channel, Galloway emphasized this point, stating that when GDP drops or markets shift, political decisions follow.
“Small coordinated changes can move GDP. And when GDP moves, decisions get made. In Q2 2020, GDP collapsed 31%. And overnight, the government moved faster than it ever has,” Galloway said,, arguing that even small shifts in consumer spending can send strong signals to politically connected companies.
Corporate Contracts With ICE Under Scrutiny
Crucially, the campaign doesn’t stop at tech platforms. It also identifies companies with business relationships to ICE operations, urging participants to cancel services with such firms.
Galloway’s list singles out carriers such as AT&T, logistics providers like FedEx, and Dell’s government contracting arm, which have been awarded contracts to support ICE’s technology, communications, or delivery needs.
Critics of federal immigration enforcement argue that many of the contracts for these services are substantial.
Forbes reported that Palantir, the analytics company, received more than $139 million in work from ICE in 2022, while AT&T’s contracts for IT and network support could reach more than $165 million under extended terms.
Deloitte, Dell and other technology and defense firms have also secured multimillion-dollar deals with the agency.
Shifting Protest Tactics
Galloway’s campaign explicitly frames this consumer pull-back not as punishment for everyday people but as a strategic use of economic influence.
“The most radical act in a capitalist society is nonparticipation,” Galloway said.
By reducing the amount households spend on targeted services for one month, supporters hope to create political pressure from corporate leaders who have close ties to the administration and can influence policy discourse.
Momentum Builds Amid Shutdown Threats
The campaign comes amid broader political tensions connected to immigration policy.
Members of Congress from both parties have been debating how to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, while protests tied to recent immigration enforcement actions have continued in cities nationwide.
Demonstrations in Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco, and other urban centers saw thousands of people march in response to the deaths of demonstrators and ongoing federal enforcement operations.
Galloway sees the campaign as a way to act without taking to the streets.
His message: if people stop spending money with certain companies, it could send a stronger message than a protest sign.
Whether that turns into real change remains to be seen.
But the plan is clear, get enough people to cancel subscriptions, skip purchases, and show companies and politicians that the public is paying attention.
Supporters are being asked to post about their cancellations using hashtags to build visibility.
The more people see others doing it, the more likely they are to join. That public show of action is part of what the campaign hopes will build pressure.
How far this goes depends on how many people follow through, and whether that pressure is enough to get companies or the government to respond.
IMAGE CREDIT: ”Scott Galloway” by Xuthoria, via Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Image adjusted for layout.