“Stop linky, no thanks”

Although more than 4 out of 5 households today have a Linky smart meter, the anti-Linky controversy has not weakened in the context of a judicialization of the conflicts in recent years. This article reconstructs the methods of denunciation and mobilization of ordinary consumers, and more precisely of the most resistant fringe among them. In the first part, the author proposes a model of engagement in the ‘anti-Linky’ cause, from suspicion to scandal. She shows how customers become involved in politicization in several registers of denunciation (electric waves and their effects on health, the false promise of the energy transition, the commercial abuses and the risks of surveillance). These consumers’ commitment is fostered by the mutualization of arguments, allowing accusations against the meters to protect not only their own homes, seen as intimate spaces, but also those of vulnerable people. The second part describes the stages of ‘home mobilization’ and ‘neighbourhood solidarity’ strategies. They aim to fight pragmatically against the installation of the meter, and to promote the quest for a non-Linky society, supported by norms of digital sobriety, anti-consumerism and a lifestyle based more on solidarity.