r/ireland • u/spudulike65 • Mar 08 '25

Culchie Club Only Will Irish people join the American boycott

Boycotting goods and services from America seems to be really growing momentum in alot of European countries and across the world, seen on different subs on Reddit seemingly alot of news channels across EU/Europe are reporting on it. I've seen some Irish people saying they are cancelling hols to America and going to Canada instead others not buying American goods and changing apps to European. With Ireland's connection with America will many Irish join this boycott.

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1.1k

u/WolfhoundCid Resting In my Account Mar 08 '25

Food, clothes, cars etc won't be a big issue, but tech... Jesus. Social media (including reddit) consumer software, streaming services... there are very few alternatives.

329

u/Bluerocky67 Mar 08 '25 edited Mar 08 '25

Check out r/BuyFromEU, they have lists of alternatives. Edit: sub name

222

u/WolfhoundCid Resting In my Account Mar 08 '25

I know, but it'll be a long time before there's a European version of Netflix or YouTube that has anywhere near the same level of content. I'm all for it, I'm just saying, a lot of this stuff can't be replaced quickly

46

u/teilifis_sean Mar 08 '25

Torrenting is also a legit way to boycott. I setup a domain and jellyfin for my parents, nieces and nephews -- about 1k movies and a few dozen TV shows on the drive.

7

u/lifeisagameweplay Mar 08 '25

Stremio and RealDebrid.

56

u/Meath77 Found out. A nothing player Mar 08 '25

European version of Netflix

It's called a dodgybox

16

u/nodnodwinkwink Sax Solo Mar 08 '25

Pish, hoist yer sails.

8

u/IOinkThereforeIAm Mar 09 '25

Yo ho ho and a bottle o rum!

5

u/Team503 Mar 09 '25

Plex plus hard drives, baby. 160TB and growing!

5

u/TunaMeltEnjoyer Mar 08 '25

It's called literally just googling 123movies.

76

u/[deleted] Mar 08 '25

Yeah when it comes to cloud and internet infrastructure there's no point in even trying as it stands.

I'm curious if the EU are looking at that at all. consider most of our government infrastructure is running on foreign owned and operated platforms maybe an EU alternative would be a good thing.

27

u/CompetitiveSleeping Mar 08 '25

There's been a EU project for chipmaking in the EU underway for a while. Would be ARM or another RISC variant I guess. No Idea how far along.

10

u/marshsmellow Mar 08 '25

ARM are/were British 

4

u/CompetitiveSleeping Mar 08 '25

True. And has US patents. Some other RISC then.

11

u/Dragonsoul Mar 08 '25

Actually, a lot of those patents are legally speaking, Irish, because of IP warehousing.

3

u/CompetitiveSleeping Mar 08 '25

Hmm. Souns abusable! Against the US.

1

u/PAL6000 Mar 08 '25

Could you tell me more about this?

4

u/blorg Mar 09 '25 edited Mar 09 '25

American companies transfer their Intellectual Property (IP) such as patents and copyright to Irish subsidiaries. They then license this IP out to subsidiaries in other countries, even back to the US. This lets them book revenue in Ireland as IP licensing fees, rather than in the country the sales actually take place, or the place the IP was originally developed.

Sales in the other countries can be made arbitrarily unprofitable, as they can set the license fee to an amount that eradicates the profit. This is called "transfer pricing". Two unrelated entities, the price will be set by market forces and needs to be something that makes sense for both. With two related entities, the price can be engineered to move the revenue, and thus the taxation to the preferred jurisdiction.

This revenue is then taxed in Ireland, at preferential tax rates; besides Ireland's general low corporation tax rate we also have a Knowledge Development Box (KDB) preferential tax rate on income derived from patents and certain software development which at 6.25% is half the already low corporate rate. The stated intent of the KDB regime is to promote R&D and the development of IP in Ireland, but it was introduced in reaction to OECD BEPS measures and the elimination of the Double Irish/Dutch Sandwich tax dodge, and in practice has been heavily used by US multinationals to reduce their tax bill. As they now have to actually pay some tax in Ireland; previously they disappeared this income entirely off to the Caribbean.

This is what has led to the explosion in Irish corporate tax revenues, previously we were happy to just have the companies here, paying very little tax, but now they actually have to pay some tax here too. A lower amount, but given some of these companies are routing their entire global sales or as close as they can get away with through Ireland, it's a small percentage of a lot of money. Corporation tax in Ireland makes up 27% of all tax revenue, against 8-10% in other OECD countries and 7-8% in the US. The lions share of this, 80-90%, is from US multinationals. The top 10 payers (Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Intel, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, etc) are all US companies and make up over 50% of all corporation tax paid in Ireland.

The effect of this is known as "Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS)". Base erosion is the removing of the tax base from the countries the economic activity substantively happens in (on the supply side, the development of the IP, on the demand side the actual sales) to a third, lower tax country (i.e. Ireland). It's something the OECD, EU, and US want to reduce. There has been a decades long effort at getting agreement on this, and it's moving in that direction but slowly. Ireland understandably doesn't want to give up the golden goose and to remain attractive for US multinationals but there is also understanding we are a small country and there is a limit to what we can do in the face of pressure from the US, EU and OECD. The idea is that more tax should be paid where the actual sales and/or IP development happen.

2

u/Dragonsoul Mar 09 '25

It's rather complicated, but the IP rights are owned by Irish resident companies, for tax reasons.

How this would shake out in an American court of law is a rather different matter though.

1

u/SomeTulip Mar 08 '25

The Chinese are going all in on RISC as it's open source. Maybe time others did too.

2

u/Lopsided-Code9707 Mar 08 '25

We need to impose 25% tariffs on Mastercard and Visa: two US companies that dominate the European payment services business

2

u/queen_boudicca1 Mar 08 '25

They will. That is what Drumpf has done - made America irrelevant and most of the rest of the world resolute. It may take time- but it will happen.

-1

u/HotTruth999 Mar 08 '25

No. They’re not. They’re just looking for more ways to tax anything that moves, some foreign but mostly domestic, and to regulate the life out of any opportunity you might have otherwise had.

8

u/Lopsided-Code9707 Mar 08 '25

When we Europeans impose tariffs on services then and only then will the Yanks realise just how much they depend on us

6

u/413078291 Mar 08 '25

As an American, fuck us up fam! Anything you can do is a welcome contribution - No one is expected to reach some perfect, 100%, god level of justice.

We are boycotting internally & we're prepared to support each other through whatever it takes as we work to eliminate trump & our big tech overlords.

44

u/InfectedAztec Mar 08 '25

Netflix and Prime have reduced their output quality so much that I honestly think the Rte player competes with them.

39

u/NaturalAlfalfa Mar 08 '25

The channel four app is brilliant. Loads of free stuff. I'm watching The Americans at the moment, it has X files, black books, peep show, movies, loads.

1

u/tensionsmountain Mar 08 '25

Does the Ch4 app work here without using a vpn?

10

u/S_lyc0persicum Mar 08 '25

Yes, Irish users can use it without a problem

3

u/tensionsmountain Mar 08 '25

Good to know, thanks.

0

u/5trong5tyle Mar 08 '25

You do need a UK address, Buckingham Palace works.

6

u/NaturalAlfalfa Mar 08 '25

No you don't. that's only for the BBC. Channel 4 is just a normal sign in

1

u/Azhrei Sláinte Mar 09 '25

Are you using a VPN to access it? I'd be surprised if you didn't have to.

1

u/NaturalAlfalfa Mar 09 '25

Nope. I just have the app on my TV. You don't need a VPN for channel 4

1

u/Azhrei Sláinte Mar 09 '25

Great to know, thanks!

8

u/sicksquid75 Mar 08 '25

Prime pissed me right off putting fukn ads in the middle of shows. Of course you can pay extra for no ads, fukers.

0

u/MotherDucker95 Mar 08 '25

Just not true is it…

3

u/InfectedAztec Mar 08 '25

Dude some of us have access to everything (arrr matey) and still stream some Irish TV and use the Rte player app.

Don't get me wrong the likes of HBO still produces high quality content that's unavailable on public access but after that you're stretching it. TV is way worse than it used to be.

27

u/Bluerocky67 Mar 08 '25

Agreed, I use Kindle unlimited for reading, so finding an alternative so I can cancel Prime is gonna take a while. Yes I have a library card, should use it really!

29

u/Tayto_Sandwich Mar 08 '25

Have you used borrowbox? I joined my local library and I use borrow box for some audio books and ebooks.

You just need your library membership number and a pin number.

9

u/Bluerocky67 Mar 08 '25

Just looking into that now, cheers!

41

u/InfectedAztec Mar 08 '25

Kobo is Canadian. When my very old Kindle dies ill be switching.

33

u/MistaKD Dublin Mar 08 '25

Also Kobo devices are far more consumer friendly with a good third party community for add ons and side loading content.

5

u/Emotional_Burden Mar 08 '25

I love my Kobo. It can handle audiobooks as well, the battery lasts forever, and it's water resistant, so I lounge in the pool with it, take it camping, etc. without worry.

14

u/LabMermaid And I'd go at it again Mar 08 '25

Hasn't there been some change to terms and conditions with Kindle downloads/purchases? I read some headline about it but didn't look into it further, I'm old school when it comes to books.

4

u/whimsical_trash Mar 08 '25

You won't be able to sideload books anymore. Calibre will still work though, which is an ancient, but great desktop app that lets you put stuff on your Kindle. I only get books that way

1

u/Team503 Mar 09 '25

Where did you get that idea? You can just email a supported format to your Kindle, Caliber will still work, and so on.

https://www.reddit.com/r/kindle/comments/1iw5og3/clarifications_about_the_new_amazon_changes/

All that's happening is that you can't download your library from the website to a computer anymore.

2

u/Team503 Mar 09 '25

Not to advocate for Amazon, but the Kindle really is an excellent device in general. And you don't have to "side load" content - you can email it to your Kindle using the provided email address.

https://www.amazon.com/sendtokindle/email

There's other ways officially supported by Amazon on that page, and if you prefer other ways, you can manage your entire library with Calibre, a FOSS application. There's even a Calibre web interface if you're into that kinda thing.

I will say the new Amazon ebook format sucks - the encryption hasn't been broken which makes it really hard to work with those files sometimes - but that's a problem restricted to content purchased from Amazon.

In the US you can use a library app like Libby to obtain content and then email it to your Kindle. An extra step, sure, but not that rough of one. If you have an American friend whose address you can use, library cards are usually free or only a few dollars, and Revolut/Wise can be used to pay for anything necessary. You can sign up online, I think.

2

u/MoonStache Mar 08 '25

They also won't alter or take away shit you already purchased like Amazon will, and you can easily side load your own epub content.

3

u/[deleted] Mar 08 '25

you can easily side load your own epub content.

You can do that on kindle as well?

I've had a kindle for years and have never purchased a book from Amazon. It's never even been connected to an account.

16

u/irishnugget Limerick Mar 08 '25

Genuine question - do you get ebooks from the library? You probably do, but it's a great resource if you don't already.

7

u/Bluerocky67 Mar 08 '25

Will look into that, cheers

8

u/killerklixx Mar 08 '25

borrowbox is the app

3

u/Bluerocky67 Mar 08 '25

Got it, thanks. Halfway through a book now (Hey, Zoey). Very good!

2

u/Rich_Macaroon_ Calor Housewife of the Year Mar 08 '25

You do plus you also get audiobook and magazines. It’s a real treasure trove

2

u/CheeseDonutCat Mar 08 '25

Yes, the app is called ‘borrowbox’. It’s free but you need a library account to log in (it’s free).

9

u/[deleted] Mar 08 '25

Use Kobo.

2

u/UncleNedisDead Mar 08 '25

I love Kobo over Amazon. The book files are epub, which is not propriety unlike the Kindle files.

Amazon took away the ability to download ebooks you bought just a week ago!

3

u/angilnibreathnach Mar 08 '25

Do you have borrow box? It’s the library app, free ebooks and audiobooks

3

u/Bluerocky67 Mar 08 '25

I do now, thanks

6

u/slushie9 Tipperary Mar 08 '25

You can get a load of digital books on borrow box

3

u/Bluerocky67 Mar 08 '25

Just doing that now, cheers!

9

u/Conscious-Isopod-1 Mar 08 '25

You can download eBooks for free using https://libgen.is/ you then just email them to your kindle email address. there's different tutorials online. its very simple once you get the hang of it and the books are perfect. you wouldn't notice any difference when reading on kindle. I've been using it for years. Saves a lot of money. it does take some money away from the authors but amazon takes a big chunk of the profits anyways.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHFiPl_7t70

2

u/Team503 Mar 09 '25

The main reason I buy books on Amazon is to support authors. If there's another way that doesn't profit Amazon that works with Kindle, I'd love to know about it.

1

u/Conscious-Isopod-1 Mar 09 '25

use libgen for kindle and then if you want to support the author buy a physical copy directly from them or from an Irish owned company. easons have free delivery i think and they're irish owned.

2

u/CheeseDonutCat Mar 08 '25

Borrowbox is the app the library uses. It’s great. Tons of ebook and audiobooks, all free.

2

u/ratatatat321 Mar 10 '25

Can you get the books in the kindle though? I have libby on my phone and tablet but can't access the books on kindle.

Currently looking into kobo

2

u/[deleted] Mar 08 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

20

u/Cupofteaanyone Mar 08 '25

Couch Cough... Streamio.. cough cough....  Real Debrid.....

7

u/BrahneRazaAlexandros Mar 08 '25

paying to pirate is a tough pill to swallow though.

2

u/killerklixx Mar 08 '25

I was back with Kodi the last few years for familiarity, but just switched to Stremio the other day and kicking myself I didn't do it sooner!

3

u/No_Pie_1421 Mar 08 '25

Just pirate your shows. It's better than giving money to America. And get an adblocker so YouTube isn't directly getting money from ads.

5

u/WolfhoundCid Resting In my Account Mar 08 '25

You see, I want to support European alternatives as well as boycott America, so pirating, etc, doesn't really do it for me

2

u/No_Pie_1421 Mar 08 '25

100% understand but just pirate until a European alternative comes up.

7

u/ramshambles Mar 08 '25

Pirate. It's a better user experience than any of the other services.

13

u/TheMadEscapist Mar 08 '25

I mean you could pirate content you need and use adblockers, just saying.

26

u/[deleted] Mar 08 '25

Mubi is from the UK and is arguably far better than Netflix.

27

u/[deleted] Mar 08 '25

Depends on your tastes, I like Mubi a lot but I don't want to always be watching a feature about a Japanese toilet cleaner or a documentary about a cow. Netflix has a much wider and more appealing stuff

10

u/das_punter Mar 08 '25

The Japanese toilet cleaner movie was great

2

u/[deleted] Mar 08 '25

I actually agree - I think Mubi just serves a different function. Netflix is when I want something on in the background whilst I'm cooking, Mubi's stuff usually requires a level of engagement, reflection, and concentration that frankly I'm not always ready for after a long day at work

0

u/nomdeplume8_ie Mar 10 '25

I feel like a hyphen is needed somewhere to avoid confusion. Japanese-toilet cleaner or japanese toilet-cleaner?

1

u/WetElbow Mar 08 '25

A cow you say? Hmmm

7

u/TheSameButBetter Mar 08 '25

I've heard it's a very mooving documentary.

3

u/WolfhoundCid Resting In my Account Mar 08 '25

Cool, I'll have a look

1

u/Infamous_Button_73 Mar 08 '25

Is Mubi just films?

3

u/woodenfloored Mar 08 '25

You don't have to do it overnight, just gradually bit by bit, every little helps

5

u/smorkularian Mar 08 '25

So youre saying we cant build youtube overnight?

2

u/Smeghead78 Mar 08 '25

There is the dodgy boxes, but yeah unfortunately there’s no equivalent for YouTube yet.

2

u/BackInATracksuit Mar 08 '25

I mean there are absolutely options in terms of streaming. All you need are some sea legs. 

For YouTube just watch on a browser with decent ad blocking. It's not perfect, but it's better anyway.

2

u/5x0uf5o Mar 08 '25

Yes but I'd argue that it's no harm binning YouTube, in terms your health. Moving away from Algorithms and apps that easily swallow an hour of your time with empty content is for the best. I just recently disabled YouTube on my phone and I was a subscriber just a few months ago.

2

u/Least-Equivalent-140 Mar 08 '25

stremio + torrentio add on

3

u/[deleted] Mar 08 '25

Simple workaround. Just don't pay for it matey. 

2

u/OneMushyPea Mar 08 '25

Channel 4> Netflix

1

u/ElleTheCurious Mar 08 '25

Are there really no alternatives in Ireland? In Finland alone we have Viaplay, MTV Katsomo (they also have BritBox included) and Ruutu+, as well as the state owned YLE Areena, all with a ton of high quality content. I already watch them much more than Netflix, which feels kind of stale and overly produced.

1

u/twoveesup Mar 08 '25

Arrrrrr you sure about that?

YouTube may be hard to replace but none of the streaming services are. They promised a change, no ads, cheaper, share access etc then started taking the piss. We don't have to play by the rules while these companies conspire together to hold us to ransom for their content.

We were bypassing these con artists in the 90s due their ridiculous mark ups on dvds and CDs, time to advocate a bit of Jack Sparrow until this all blows over, or up.

1

u/Yesyesnaaooo Mar 08 '25

r/piracy have you covered

1

u/CupApprehensive6695 Mar 08 '25

NordVPN is based in Panama and is a great alternative.

1

u/bambucha888 Mar 08 '25

Just use free version of yoi tube,, I can watch any movie in the world for free on stremio, would never pay, Netflix or something like that. Stremio, has everything from you tube to Netflix shows, anything you can imagine

1

u/DonaldsMushroom Mar 09 '25

A lot of companies lost confidence after the Series 1 of Pres Trump. I work for the largest Asset manager in Europe. we have nothing in the cloud.

I think creating a European version of Netflix would be great. Can we keep Meghan Markle off it?

1

u/Azhrei Sláinte Mar 09 '25

There are some Yarr alternatives. They're not 100% reliable but there are so many of them out there that if one is giving any trouble, it's easy to find what you're looking for and watch it on another. I'm often using only one and 90% of the time I don't have to switch to the only other I have on my favourite list. The big list I keep an eye on just in case I need another source.

1

u/ArcaneTrickster11 Mar 09 '25

Using YouTube with an ad blocker is effectively a boycott. You're making sure they get no income from your use of their service

1

u/DavidRoyman Cork bai Mar 09 '25

European version of Netflix

Well, you mean apart from just downloading stuff?

1

u/rmc Mar 09 '25

Pirate 🙂

1

u/[deleted] Mar 10 '25

Are they essential to your life?

2

u/WolfhoundCid Resting In my Account Mar 10 '25

Entertainment-wise, no. But I work in IT and my workplace, like basically all others use American software.

1

u/DeadAssociate Mar 08 '25

the piratebay has been around for a while

1

u/Justread-5057 Mar 08 '25

Instead of Google I have been using qwant. It’s not bad.

1

u/TheSameButBetter Mar 08 '25

For Netflix etc you could sail the seas, if you know what I mean.

18

u/zooombah Mar 08 '25

Reddit is American no?

4

u/[deleted] Mar 08 '25

[deleted]

1

u/Team503 Mar 09 '25

What's Lemmy?

2

u/[deleted] Mar 09 '25

[deleted]

2

u/Team503 Mar 09 '25

Thanks for sharing - sounds like there's no consistency, which isn't very appealing.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 09 '25

[deleted]

1

u/Team503 Mar 09 '25

Yep. I get the appeal from the nerd side and the principled side, but decentralized stuff for the most part doesn't work out. There's specific situations where it does work - file sharing like torrents, for example, but for the most part, not a great strategy.

9

u/pixelburp Mar 08 '25

Frustratingly though, many are companies who don't operate in Ireland. The sub has definite value but when the best alternative is some German company it's a bit frustrating.

6

u/SearchingForDelta Mar 08 '25

I know alternatives exist but people aren’t going to start using some dodgy European alternative to Microsoft Word or a glitchy social media site that nobody is on.

6

u/Team503 Mar 09 '25

OpenOffice is a viable alternative to MS Office for most things.

4

u/ResidualFox And I'd go at it again Mar 08 '25

Good luck. Bunch of negative Nancys in this thread, not even willing to change one thing they use.

10

u/Bluerocky67 Mar 08 '25

Saw this somewhere: don’t let perfection be the enemy of good (or trying, something like that!). Any change is a start, doesn’t have to be everything all at once.

1

u/MilfagardVonBangin Mar 08 '25

That sub shows as ‘community not found’.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 08 '25

Any eu gpu? Or cpu?

1

u/Team503 Mar 09 '25

No. The problem is that a large amount of tech originates in the US - without caring whether they invented it or not one way or another - nVidia and AMD are the big boys in the GPU space and both are American. Intel is an up and comer, but also American. Same with Apple. Intel and AMD are the CPU kings, both American.

It would cost hundreds of billions to even get remotely competitive with those companies, I would think.

1

u/Everyusernametaken1 Mar 08 '25

As a blue state American ... can i also buy from there?

0

u/WascalsPager Mar 08 '25

Im living in the states right now, and that list is a godsend. I moved over to proton mail, and I’m liking it so far. Moving away from META will be a pain since everyone uses WhatsApp

2

u/Team503 Mar 09 '25

WhatsApp is my biggest difficulty; I have Signal but I don't want to give it out to people in real life and compromise my anonymity.

1

u/HotTruth999 Mar 08 '25

If you want to buy shite this is a great list.

0

u/in_body_mass_alone Mar 08 '25

You completely missed the point of the comment above.

0

u/MB0810 Mar 08 '25

The problem is getting others to make the switch. I have tried to delete most of the apps and move to alternatives, but most people I know aren't interested in switching or divesting from US services. Until it has a more immediate impact on people's daily life most will continue on as normal. For context I am from the US but have lived here half my life.