Unless they’ve walked back their support of DHH, then they’re actively supporting an alt right racist/transphobe
Is Framework an ethical company?
Submitted 2 weeks ago by CoconutLove@lemmy.today to [deleted]
Comments
ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
NotSteve_@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
The support was forgiveable to me initially with the assunption that they didn’t know but they doubled down on it and I can’t forgive that. I like the company a lot but I’m not going to knowingly indirectly fund hate by buying their stuff.
It’s really sad how right wing tech is now where even the objectively left wing open source/right to repair/privacy space is dominated by bigots. Like even Proton’s CEO is a MAGA
spankinspinach@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Re: Proton - my understanding of the situation is that they made a (blog) post endorsing one action by Trump (nominating a lady very competent in the tech space, I think specifically relating to privacy), which was blown out of proportion by ppl who want to paint with broad strokes.
IIRC, they even distanced themselves from trump within that post, or shortly thereafter in a social media post. It’s been a while but unless I missed something after the blow up, I don’t think they’ve done anything to endorse him
Cevilia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
I got the hell away from Proton when they started leaning heavily into AI and shitcoins. I don’t believe they’ve changed course since?
poVoq@slrpnk.net 2 weeks ago
Well other than sending money and free laptops to a racist multi-millionaire and excusing it with a “big tent” approach when asked why the fuck they do that…
dev_null@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
Yeah, the answer to “Is Framework ethical?” is simple, no they aren’t. The answer to “Is Framework more ethical than all the Big Tech laptop manufacturers?” is a resounding yes though. Which is a sad state of affairs
Veedem@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I think context matters here. There currently isn’t any outwardly unethical behavior on their behalf and they’re building products that are designed to be maintained and upgraded, which is a big step forward when you consider things like e-waste and protecting the environment. Those products still contain materials that through mining or producing, result in pollution and potentially underpaid labor in large factories.
I would say the scales tip to them being currently more ethical than competitors in the same space. That could change at any time and I’m sure there’s stuff we don’t know that some would frown upon.
ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Did they walk back their sponsorship of DHH?
osnews.com/…/in-bizarre-move-framework-embraces-d…
Because supporting that bigot is outwardly unethical…
Hansae@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Meh, still better than virtually all other computer OEMs by net political harm done. I’ll take one nutcase over companies sucking off a entire borderline fascist government.
RodgeGrabTheCat@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
“Let’s ditch the superlatives and review David’s post objectively:”
Who is David?
BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
What defines an ethical company?
sbeak@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
In my opinion, Framework is more ethical that most in the industry. Think companies like Apple, HP, Dell, etc. who are generally quite anti-consumer. For example, Apple’s parts pairing and closed ecosystem, HP’s lockdown of their printers. There are plenty of more examples to look for, turns out humongous for-profit corporations driven by money like money go up more than happy consumers.
Whether Framework “ethical” outright I’m not sure. They support right-to-repair and interact with the community more. They share CAD files of their products so that people can make their own accessories and such, they are working with many Linux distros to improve compatibility, etc. I personally find the backwards compatibility of parts of their devices really impressive. So definitely, more ethical than most.
However, they, like a majority of companies, are not focused on improving working conditions in factories, they are not necessarily using fair materials, etc. Additionally, the support of Omarchy is problematic. In a nutshell, Omarchy is pretty much a preconfigured Arch that DHH likes. The controversy is that this DHH is an insane alt-right guy, anti-immigrant, transphobic, homophobic, white supremecist, all that. The direct support (particularly on social media) of Omarchy is seen as an endorsement of DHH, when you go to Omarchy’s website, DHH’s name is right there. This obviously isn’t a good look for Framework, and they hammered in the idea that they are a “big tent”, implying that they are okay with DHH’s views. Point have also been made that Omarchy is a very new distribution with a small userbase.
Source I found in a quick search: gardinerbryant.com/the-omarchy-framework-thing/ (13th Oct 2025)
Note that Framework is not currently sponsoring Omarchy: frame.work/blog/framework-sponsorships (I am unsure whether they originally did, or if was just the social media promotion)
Other companies support their own fair share of far-right lunatics, but that doesn’t make it ethical for Framework to do so of course.
defaultusername@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
I’d say no for the reason that they are not a worker owned cooperative.
Holytimes@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
No, there’s no such thing as a truey ethical company. Its only various shades of acceptable. Personally any company developing electronics, or working with computers is unethical by the nature of what is required to create them. With no expections. But it’s an acceptable evil as there’s no way to willfully work in the industry ethically at the moment. Framework at least tries to minimize the harm they cause but they still cause plenty of harm.
But it’s entirely based on your own morality. If you must ask others if a company is ethical, then you do not out line what you define as ethical. Then you are too ignorant of your own morals.
You should sit down and go actually fucking learn what you deem ethical and do the research yourself on if a company is ethical. Or at least bring definitions to the table when you ask others.
Ethics and morals for the most part are a nuanced debate since vary rarely are things so black and white that you can condem people out right.
So the question then is. The actual fuck do you define as ethical?
TaterTot@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
There are no ethical large computer manufacturers. Framework, like its competitors, financially supports unethical people, projects, and governments, and there’s no such thing as an end-to-end ethical supply chain right now.
People want Framework to be ethical because they champion repairability, and on a relative scale, you could do a lot worse. But that’s also the problem. Most people buying a new MacBook or ThinkPad never think about ethics. Framework puts ethics front and center, then drops the ball the moment you dig deeper than repairability.
If you want to buy “ethically,” your best option is used. The device was still made unethically, by a company that funded abhorrent causes, and the seller will likely reinvest your money into the very ecosystem you’re trying to avoid. But at least you kept something out of a landfill a little longer, and put one more degree of Kevin Bacon between yourself and the worst of it.
To keep things in perspective, Framework is probably less unethical than most manufacturers, and they’re doing more for repairability than most. And even Doug Forcett wasn’t good enough for the Good Place, so you know… you have to draw your own lines.