Ensh*ttification, Live! Micah and Cory Doctorow in Conversation

Podcast · Guest appearance on On the Media · Listen

• Cory Doctorow’s “enshittification” theory describes the three-stage decay of two-sided tech platforms: first, they attract users with good service; second, they squeeze users to benefit business customers; and third, they squeeze both users and businesses to extract maximum value for the platform and its investors.
• This process is exemplified by Amazon’s use of Prime and “most favored nation” clauses to extract high fees from sellers, Google’s deliberate degradation of search quality to force more ad views, and nursing apps using “algorithmic wage discrimination” based on a worker’s debt.
• Doctorow argues that enshittification is driven by a lack of competition, enabled by unchecked acquisitions (e.g., Instagram, Diapers.com) and a historical failure of antitrust enforcement, leading companies to become “too big to care.”
• A key proposed solution is for countries to repeal DMCA-like laws (specifically Section 1201) that criminalize circumventing digital locks. This would foster new tech sectors by allowing the creation of tools for “technological self-determination” (e.g., ad-free app clients like the OG app) and introduce competition against entrenched monopolies.