It's not your job to fix the internet

"The concept of enshittification, as coined by the author and activist Cory Doctorow, just feels right. Whether you're searching on Google, shopping on Amazon, or scrolling on Facebook, large platforms often feel like they're not trying to bring us value so much as extract every bit of value they can out of us. It wasn't always like this, was it? Can we get it back?"

"On this episode of The Vergecast, Doctorow has an answer. No, it wasn't always like this, and yes, we can get it back. Doctorow's new book, Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It, is filled with explanations about the ways in which large, successful, once user-focused products go wrong, and the ways in which regulators and competitors can make things better again."

Enshittification describes how digital platforms begin by delivering user value but progressively prioritize monetization, advertisers, and powerful partners, degrading experiences for regular users. Platforms implement features and algorithms that extract value from users, promote friction, and favor paying or strategic customers, resulting in worse search, discovery, and commerce. Regulatory measures, competition, and alternative business models can counteract these tendencies by realigning incentives toward user welfare. Practical remedies include stronger consumer and antitrust enforcement, interoperability requirements, support for competitive entrants, and product designs that resist capture by advertisers and gatekeepers.

Read at The Verge