About

The Clippy PFP Movement or Change Your Profile Picture to Clippy, also known as the Clippy Cult, is an online movement started by YouTuber and consumer rights activist Louis Rossmann to stand against unethical conduct by technology companies, like personal data sales, data mining for AI training programs, unnecessary censorship and more, by changing your profile picture to an image of the infamous Microsoft Office Assistant, Clippy. Rossmann started the movement on August 7th, 2025, with the release of the YouTube video, "Change your profile picture to clippy. I'm serious." The movement became significantly popularized over the following days, with many social media users changing their profile pictures to images of Clippy, as well as posting memes about the event.

History

On August 7th, 2025, YouTuber^[1] Louis Rossmann posted a video titled, "Change your profile picture to clippy. I'm serious," garnering over 2 million views in four days.

In the video, Rossmann talks about a claim from the Facebook whistleblower hearings that stuck out to him, the claim being that Meta allegedly keeps track of when teen girls delete selfies, then serves those girls beauty ads, seeing the selfie deletion as a sign that the girl likely has low self-esteem. Rossmann compares this to what tech companies got in trouble for in the '90s, pointing to the 2001 case "United States v. Microsoft Corp," which was over Microsoft bundling Internet Explorer with Windows.

Rossmann talks about how Microsoft, back then, would give you a "free" copy of Microsoft Office if you upgraded an old Dell computer, talking about how Office came with Clippy. Rossmann says, "Unlike Facebook, who is trying to profit off of young girls that feel suicidal, Clippy wanted to help." He mentions that Clippy never tried to sell or use any information you told him to third parties. Rossmann also says that if he booted up that old computer, Clippy would still be there, eager to help.

He goes on to talk about how tech companies all want your data, mentioning how many sell your data to train AI programs. Rossmann continues to hype up Clippy and says:

"If you're tired of companies changing the terms of the sale after the sale, change your profile picture to Clippy. If you're tired of companies that have the ability to reach into your house and ransomware your products so that they stop working unless you pay them again, claiming that that's legal, but then, when somebody tries to give you back access to what you bought and pay for, that's illegal. Change your profile photo to a Clippy. If you're tired of sexbots invading the comment section on a regular basis and their comments posting with no problem, but your comments becoming censored, even when you're not saying anything that bad, change your profile picture to a Clippy. If Google being one of the premier data mining companies on Earth, not being able to tell that little cat with two pillows next to it that they try to make look like an ass so that thirsty young men click it as they normalize sex trafficking on the platform that doesn't allow you to express an opinion bothers you, change your profile picture to a Clippy and let them know that you're not happy. Clippy never tried to normalize sex trafficking. He just wanted to help."

At the end of the video, Rossmann encourages YouTubers and Slack users specifically to change their PFPs.

Online Presence

The video garnered viral spread over the following days in early August 2025, inspiring discourse, memes, reactions and encouraging social media users to change their profile pictures to Clippy.

On August 7th, 2025, the video was shared to the /r/videos^[2] subreddit, garnering over 2,600 upvotes in four days.

That same day, the Asmongold TV YouTube^[3] channel uploaded a video of Twitch streamer Asmongold talking about the movement, garnering over 830,000 views in four days.

On August 9th, Redditor u/Unlikely_Salad_2973 posted a Yes Chad meme to the /r/memes^[4] subreddit about the movement, garnering over 6,900 upvotes in two days.

General fan art of Clippy also increased in virality following the launch of the movement as it continued spreading on social media.

Also on August 9th, 2025, Redditor u/Capital_katt posted a series of fan art to the /r/krita^[5] subreddit, depicting Clippy in a paper pirate hat, garnering over 2,400 upvotes in two days.

Search Interest

External References