People are being urged to stop using social media for up to 48 hours later this week in an effort to pressure the networks into restoring control of personal data to users.

The call to strike has been issued by Dr Larry Sanger – a co-founder of the Wikipedia online encyclopaedia.

In his call to action, Dr Sanger said the strike – from 4 to 5 July – would show the “massive demand” for change.

On July 4 and 5 (at least one day), people with serious grievances against social media—including you?—will go on strike. You could, but obviously don’t have to, announce that you are one of the signatories of the Declaration of Digital Independence.

This means we will not use social media on those days, except to post notices that we are on strike. We’re going to make a lot of noise. Nobody will be able to ignore what’s happening. We’re going to flex our collective muscles and demand that giant, manipulative corporations give us back control over our data, privacy, and user experience.

Who: You.The more, the merrier! We’re urging you to go on strike with us. (“We” means nothing more than “all the rest of us who have serious grievances about social media—privacy, free speech, or something else.”)

What: A collective pause in our use of social media, except to post notices and memes that:

Declare that we are on strike. Use hashtag #SocialMediaStrike. (Optional.) Point to a copy of the Declaration of Digital Independence (preferably, your own; see “How” below). Invite others to sign the Declaration. Urge others to join the strike. Ask your friends, family, and followers to sign and strike.

Hashtag: #SocialMediaStrike

Big changes

“We’re going to make a lot of noise,” wrote Dr Sanger in a blog setting out his reasons for calling the two-day boycott.

“We’re going to flex our collective muscles and demand that giant, manipulative corporations give us back control over our data, privacy, and user experience,” he said.

The more people who join, said Dr Sanger, the more it will show how dissatisfied people are with the current situation.

Dr Sanger hopes that the strike will prompt changes at the large social networks, which will then grant people more control over their data.

He also hopes the networks become more open and interoperable so that a post made on one service can show up on others.

“This is how social media should have been developed from the beginning, rather than walled off in separate, competing networks,” he said.

Those striking are also being asked to sign the Declaration of Digital Independence drafted by Dr Sanger.

The Declaration calls for social networks to be decentralised and turned into systems that respect the rights of free speech, privacy and security.

The BBC has contacted the Internet Association, which represents social networks, for its reaction to Dr Sanger’s call.

The strike call has circulated widely on Reddit, Twitter and several other networks. Dr Sanger has asked supporters to spread the word on Facebook as he maintains no presence on that network.

Despite the growing interest in the strike, some questioned its impact.

On the Hacker News list that shares tech headlines one commenter said: “I feel that even if everybody who cared went on strike, the difference in daily visitors would probably be in the error margin.”

They added: “I think most people who really care have already left the centralised social media or scaled it down to the point that a non-strike day is an exception.”

GAB has joined the strike

The social media sit GAB has also joined in. They have sent an email to their many users explaining the reason:

Online censorship is getting worse by the day, which is why we are working so hard at Gab to build open source software that preserves online freedom, sovereignty, and privacy for all people.

Here are just some of the many censorship stories you may have missed last month alone.

Apple Bans Gab’s Developer Account After Company Makes Antitrust Case To The DOJ



YouTube censors video exposing Google’s anti-conservative censorship



CHINA BANS THE INTERCEPT AND OTHER NEWS SITES IN “CENSORSHIP BLACK FRIDAY”



Elizabeth Warren Calls for More Tech Censorship



Twitter Will Quarantine Trump’s Tweets



Reddit Quarantine’s The_Donald subreddit



Pinterest Caught Censoring Christians and Pro-Life Content

New Gab and Big Tech Social Media Strike on July 4th

On July 4th Gab will be launching a total overhaul of Gab Social. It will be open source, decentralized, and most importantly redesigned from the ground up to be more user friendly and have access to existing apps on both app stores. We hope you will join us for New Gab on July 4th and also consider participating in the Big Tech social media strike happening on July 4th-5th.