How I Sabotaged Starbucks | Super Users

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Published 2022-07-15
Coder and TikToker, Sean Wiggs, regularly asks his followers to spam anti-union employers with fake job applications.

He’s part of an organization called Gen-Z For Change and earlier this year, as part of their campaign called Change is Brewing, Wiggs wrote a script that has been used to take on Starbucks. The bot let people flood the company with more than 140,000 fake job applications for positions at stores where union organizers had been fired.

In our series Super Users, VICE World News explores the latest technology used to fight crime, trafficking, climate change and social injustice.

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All Comments (21)
  • @DJ-xp9bs
    As a coder myself, there is a lot of legal gray space when it comes to scraping web sites and bot activity on the websites of big corporations, since the internet is still kind of a big gray space in itself. These companies have multi million dollar legal departments that can and will spend a whole lot of time and resources to find something to sue you about. There has been plenty of examples in the past where coders have been sued doing what they thought was legal gray space activities. If it were me I would have stayed anon, but I still respect this guy and what he is doing!
  • I've been in 2 unions they are way better than non union. The few cents they take for the dollars and rights they get you is worth it all day long. People have been brainwashed to believe unions are not for them. It's so ridiculous.
  • @thoomin1926
    Imagine getting fired because you ask to get paid fairly. Welcome to America!
  • @RG_Eph
    This guy is seriously a hero…we need more like him in these insane times
  • “There is strenght in numbers”

    For some that might seem like repeated words said over things that never help but they absolutely do help.

    If a tiny nation like Denmark is able to force MacDonalds to adhere to Danish worker standards by essentially shutting down all sectors related to macdonalds its possible. Good luck america
  • Sean is genuinely one of the most incredible people ever- insanely smart with such a kind heart and a passion for helping others!
  • @dalkurd1
    I wish major entertainers had empathy enough to shine light on these type of issues. Money is ruining politics, democracy and humans lives. Corporations and their greed is ruining peoples lives.

    Stockholm, Sweden 🇸🇪
  • @EyeofZai
    i really hope he has a good lawyer, and i hope he knows starbucks is not gonna be happy with him. he’s doing a great thing and i really hope everything goes well for him
  • @TurdJesus
    It’s insane that just a few generations ago people died for the chance to have a union. Now people see unions as evil due to the GQP and money hungry rich turds. I’ll admit that there are bad ones. Mine isn’t great, but I still have my four weeks of vacation a year, sick time, living wage and such. There are jobs the same as mine doing four times as much for less money and benefits due to having no union.
  • Great to see people like him taking action! This is the younger generation that gives me hope. It's unfortunate that there still seems to be so many people who don't understand how unions work, even when they work in a unionized company. The union is there to represent and protect workers rights and a union is only as strong as it's members.
  • @Oleg_V
    As a person who was born in the Soviet Union and who learned history, I always wondered why people in the US were 'trained' to be anti-union. Because the pros for workers are obvious and alternatives are not at all. It's good people like him do stuff like this about unionization.
  • @ou8my58
    oh man you are top-notch, Starbucks is the most expensive coffee, and the rules workers have to follow everything from political correctness to the perma-smile you must paint on yourself. Poor kid got fired while wiping tables without smiling, I walked out never to let that company ever to get my money. I now go to Tim Hortons for a third of the cost and honestly awesome coffee, and they are unionized. Keep up the GOOD work you are doing, your ethics will carry you far, as you probably already know.
  • Python is insane in automating almost everything and props to the guy for leveraging this bringing about a positive movement.
  • 20 years as a union member, this dude is an Absolute Fucking Legend!! I want to shake his hand!🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻👍🏻
    You fucking rock, Brother!!!
  • @bgNinjaart
    I hope he doesn't get sued, them Starbucks lawyers are fierce
  • He should not be publishing his face online. Technically it’s illegal even though he is skirting a gray area and the fury of a corporation against him will be massive. Stay anonymous
  • @imlouavril
    THATS MY FRIEND SEAN AND HE ABSOLUTELY ROCKS I loved this interview ❤️
  • @IFAMILYIH
    Shoutout to these lot for doing this ❤️
  • @IIIAnchani
    he isn't the hero the world wanted, but definitely the hero the world needed.
    Please, Lord, protect this wonderful man from all harm.
    /and I'm not even religious.
  • thank you!I appreciate how u helping people!KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!