Enshittification#Google Search

File:DEF CON 31 - An Audacious Plan to Halt the Internet's Enshittification - Cory Doctorow (q118B QdP2k).webm 31, 2023]]

Enshittification was first used by Cory Doctorow in a November 2022 blog post that was republished three months later in Locus.{{cite magazine |last=Doctorow |first=Cory |date=January 2023 |title=Social Quitting |url=https://locusmag.com/2023/01/commentary-cory-doctorow-social-quitting/ |magazine=Locus |volume=90 |issue=1 #744 |department=Special Features |pages=29, 49|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230102182038/https://locusmag.com/2023/01/commentary-cory-doctorow-social-quitting/ |archive-date=January 2, 2023 |url-status=live |access-date=December 13, 2023}} He expanded on the concept in another blog post{{Cite web |url=https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys |title=Pluralistic: Tiktok's enshittification (21 Jan 2023) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow |date=January 21, 2023 |access-date=November 10, 2023 |archive-date=November 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231109135520/https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys |url-status=live}} that was republished in the January 2023 edition of Wired:

{{Blockquote|text=Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die. I call this enshittification, and it is a seemingly inevitable consequence arising from the combination of the ease of changing how a platform allocates value, combined with the nature of a "two-sided market", where a platform sits between buyers and sellers, hold each hostage to the other, raking off an ever-larger share of the value that passes between them.}}

In a 2024 op-ed in the Financial Times, Doctorow argued that {{"'}}enshittification' is coming for absolutely everything" with "enshittificatory" platforms leaving humanity in an "enshittocene".{{cite news |last1=Doctorow |first1=Cory |date=February 7, 2024 |title='Enshittification' is coming for absolutely everything |url=https://www.ft.com/content/6fb1602d-a08b-4a8c-bac0-047b7d64aba5 |url-access=subscription |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240208152542/https://www.ft.com/content/6fb1602d-a08b-4a8c-bac0-047b7d64aba5 |archive-date=February 8, 2024 |access-date=February 24, 2024 |website=Financial Times}}

Doctorow argues that new platforms offer useful products and services at a loss, as a way to gain new users. Once users are locked in, the platform then offers access to the userbase to suppliers at a loss; once suppliers are locked in, the platform shifts surpluses to shareholders.{{cite book|first1=Kean|last1=Birch|title=Data Enclaves |chapter=Data Paradoxes|chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46402-7_6|publisher=Springer Nature Switzerland|date=November 10, 2023|location=Cham|isbn=978-3-031-46402-7|pages=107–124|via=Springer Link|doi=10.1007/978-3-031-46402-7_6}} Once the platform is fundamentally focused on the shareholders, and the users and vendors are locked in, the platform no longer has any incentive to maintain quality. Enshittified platforms that act as intermediaries can act as both a monopoly on services and a monopsony on customers, as high switching costs prevent either from leaving even when alternatives technically exist. Doctorow has described the process of enshittification as happening through "twiddling": the continual adjustment of the parameters of the system in search of marginal improvements of profits, without regard to any other goal.{{Cite web |last=Doctorow |first=Cory |title=Twiddler: Configurability for Me, but Not for Thee |url=https://cacm.acm.org/blogs/blog-cacm/270721-twiddler-configurability-for-me-but-not-for-thee/fulltext |access-date=September 15, 2023 |website=Communications of the ACM |date=March 8, 2023 |language=en |archive-date=September 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230917224440/https://cacm.acm.org/blogs/blog-cacm/270721-twiddler-configurability-for-me-but-not-for-thee/fulltext |url-status=live}} Enshittification can be seen as a form of rent-seeking.{{cite magazine |last=Doctorow |first=Cory |date=January 23, 2023 |title=The 'Enshittification' of TikTok |url=https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-platforms-cory-doctorow/ |magazine=Wired |publisher=Condé Nast |access-date=June 1, 2023 |archive-date=June 1, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230601004832/https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-platforms-cory-doctorow/ |url-status=live}}

To solve the problem, Doctorow has called for two general principles to be followed:

• The first is a respect of the end-to-end principle, which holds that the role of a network is to reliably deliver data from willing senders to willing receivers. When applied to platforms, this entails users being given what they asked for, not what the platform prefers to present. For example, users would see all content from users they subscribed to, allowing content creators to reach their audience without going through an opaque algorithm; and in search engines, exact matches for search queries would be shown before sponsored results, rather than afterwards.{{Cite web |last=Doctorow |first=Cory |date=May 9, 2023 |title=As Platforms Decay, Let's Put Users First |url=https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/platforms-decay-lets-put-users-first |access-date=September 15, 2023 |website=Electronic Frontier Foundation |language=en |archive-date=October 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231022021215/https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/platforms-decay-lets-put-users-first |url-status=live}}
• The second is the right of exit, which holds that users of a platform can easily go elsewhere if they are dissatisfied with it. For social media, this requires interoperability, countering the network effects that "lock in" users and prevent market competition between platforms. For digital media platforms, it means enabling users to switch platforms without losing the content they purchased that is locked by digital rights management.

Doctorow's concept has been cited by various scholars and journalists as a framework for understanding the decline in quality of online platforms. Discussions about enshittification have appeared in numerous media outlets, including analyses of how tech giants like Facebook, Google, and Amazon have shifted their business models to prioritize profits at the expense of user experience.Multiple sources:

• {{Cite web |date=January 24, 2023 |title=Anche TikTok sta andando in malora (il fenomeno dell'enshitting) |url=https://www.repubblica.it/tecnologia/blog/stazione-futuro/2023/01/24/news/anche_tiktok_sta_andando_in_malora_il_fenomeno_dellenshitting-384930514/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013085624/https://www.repubblica.it/tecnologia/blog/stazione-futuro/2023/01/24/news/anche_tiktok_sta_andando_in_malora_il_fenomeno_dellenshitting-384930514/ |archive-date=October 13, 2023 |access-date=September 18, 2023 |website=la Repubblica |language=it}}
• {{cite web |last1=Hudson |first1=Alex |date=January 31, 2023 |title=The Beginning of the End for TikTok? |url=https://www.newsweek.com/newsletter/infinite-scroll/2023-01-31/tiktok-enshttification-heating-algorithm-ban |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230719224709/https://www.newsweek.com/newsletter/infinite-scroll/2023-01-31/tiktok-enshttification-heating-algorithm-ban |archive-date=July 19, 2023 |access-date=July 20, 2023 |work=Infinite Scroll |publisher=Newsweek}}
• {{cite news |last1=Harford |first1=Tim |date=March 3, 2023 |title=The enshittification of apps is real. But is it bad? |url=https://www.ft.com/content/acaf3fb1-d971-48ad-8efb-c82787cdd2fc |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230613174718/https://www.ft.com/content/acaf3fb1-d971-48ad-8efb-c82787cdd2fc |archive-date=June 13, 2023 |access-date=July 20, 2023 |newspaper=Financial Times}}
• {{cite web |date=June 19, 2023 |title=Why the internet is getting worse |url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/why-the-internet-is-getting-worse-1.6880711 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230720015058/https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/why-the-internet-is-getting-worse-1.6880711 |archive-date=July 20, 2023 |access-date=July 20, 2023 |work=Front Burner |publisher=CBC Radio}}
• {{cite magazine |last1=Barber |first1=Gregory |date=July 7, 2023 |title=Can Twitter Alternatives Escape the Enshittification Trap? |url=https://www.wired.com/story/plaintext-twitter-alternatives-enshittification-trap/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230720015101/https://www.wired.com/story/plaintext-twitter-alternatives-enshittification-trap/ |archive-date=July 20, 2023 |access-date=July 20, 2023 |magazine=Wired |publisher=Condé Nast}}
• {{cite web |last1=Summerson |first1=Isabelle |date=July 14, 2023 |title='Enshittification' and social media for academics |url=https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/saturdayextra/enshittification/102602626 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230720015101/https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/saturdayextra/enshittification/102602626 |archive-date=July 20, 2023 |access-date=July 20, 2023 |publisher=ABC Radio National}}
• {{cite web |last1=Warzel |first1=Charlie |date=September 8, 2023 |title=Streaming Has Reached Its Sad, Predictable Fate |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/09/streaming-services-netflix-max-cost/675264/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230924053139/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/09/streaming-services-netflix-max-cost/675264/ |archive-date=September 24, 2023 |access-date=September 24, 2023 |publisher=The Atlantic}}
• {{cite web |last1=Cunningham |first1=Andrew |date=August 21, 2023 |title=Windows 11 has made the 'clean Windows install' an oxymoron |url=https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/08/windows-11-has-made-the-clean-windows-install-an-oxymoron/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230925153809/https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/08/windows-11-has-made-the-clean-windows-install-an-oxymoron/ |archive-date=September 25, 2023 |access-date=September 24, 2023 |publisher=Condé Nast |magazine=Ars Technica}} This phenomenon has sparked debates about the need for regulatory interventions and alternative models to ensure the integrity and quality of digital platforms.{{Cite web |date=April 24, 2024 |title=Enshittification, Disenshittification and The Bezzle: Cory Doctorow in conversation with Randall Munroe {{!}} Berkman Klein Center |url=https://cyber.harvard.edu/events/enshittification |access-date=June 21, 2024 |website=cyber.harvard.edu |language=en}}

The American Dialect Society selected enshittification as its 2023 word of the year.{{cite web |last=Zimmer |first=Ben |title=2023 Word of the Year is 'enshittification' |url=https://americandialect.org/2023-word-of-the-year-is-enshittification/ |website=American Dialect Society |access-date=January 6, 2024 |date=January 5, 2024}}

The Macquarie Dictionary named enshittification as its 2024 word of the year, selected by both the committee's and people's choice votes for only the third time since the inaugural event in 2006.{{cite web |last=Wiseman |first=Lewis |title=Macquarie Dictionary names 'enshittification' as 2024 Word of the Year. But what does it mean? |website=ABC News |date=November 26, 2024 |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-26/macquarie-dictionary-word-of-the-year-2024/104648884 |access-date=November 26, 2024}}

In some cases, public backlash can lead to a reversal of enshittification processes. On March 25th, 2025, after significant backlash to their Digital Rights Management policies, Universal Audio loosened its iLok DRM policies. UA removed the need for always-on connectivity and shifted to machine-based or USB dongle-based authorization. Furthermore, they allowed one key to authorize up to three instances of software, up from two. Users praised this change, commenting that they were "Glad to see UA is listening."{{cite web|url=https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/04/unshittification-3-tech-companies-that-recently-made-my-life-better/|title=Unshittification: 3 tech companies that recently made my life… better|first=Nate|last=Anderson|website=Ars Technica}}

{{See also|Airbnb#Criticism and controversies}}

Originally meant to be a cheap alternative to hotels, Airbnb became a popular company in the platform economy. However, in similar enterprises in the platform economy which offer very cheap prices, once the venture capital runs out, the cheap prices are gone. This is presumably what happened to Airbnb, where prices of many places hosted there have since increased to be higher than hotels, often with fewer amenities, deceptive advertising, additional rules and fees by hosts, less quality control, and sometimes hidden cameras.{{Cite magazine |last=Zickgraf |first=Ryan |date=January 6, 2024 |title=Airbnb Was Supposed to Save Capitalism. Instead, It Just Devolved Into Garbage. |url=https://jacobin.com/2024/01/airbnb-big-tech-hotels-travel-sharing-economy-capitalism |access-date=June 5, 2024 |magazine=Jacobin |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Ash |first=Isabelle Chapman, Majlie de Puy Kamp, Audrey |date=2024-07-09 |title=How Airbnb fails to protect guests from hidden cameras |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/09/business/airbnb-hidden-camera-invs/index.html |access-date=2025-05-03 |website=CNN |language=en}}

{{see also|Criticism of Amazon}}

In Doctorow's original post, he discussed the practices of Amazon. The online retailer began by wooing users with goods sold below cost and (with an Amazon Prime subscription) free shipping. Once its user base was solidified, more sellers began to sell their products through Amazon. Finally, Amazon began to add fees to increase profits. In 2023, over 45% of the sale price of items went to Amazon in the form of various fees.{{Cite web |last=Doctorow |first=Cory |date=2023-01-23 |title=Tiktok’s enshittification |url=https://doctorow.medium.com/tiktoks-enshittification-bb3f5df91979 |access-date=2025-05-18 |website=Medium |language=en}} Doctorow described advertisement within Amazon as a payola scheme in which sellers bid against one another for search-ranking preference, and said that the first five pages of a search for "cat beds" were half advertisements.

Doctorow has also criticized Amazon's Audible service, which controls over 90% of the audiobook market and applies mandatory digital rights management (DRM) to all audio books. He pointed out that this meant that a user leaving the platform would lose access to their audiobook library. Doctorow decided in 2014 to not sell his audiobooks via Audible anymore but produce them himself even though that meant earning a lot less than he would have by letting Amazon "slap DRM" on his books. He has since then published over half a dozen of his audiobooks independently as Amazon's system would not distribute them without DRM.{{cite web |last1=Doctorow |first1=Cory |title=Why none of my books are available on Audible |url=https://doctorow.medium.com/why-none-of-my-books-are-available-on-audible-83cb182f2f91 |website=Medium |language=en |date=July 25, 2022 |url-access=registration}}{{cite web |last1=Doctorow |first1=Cory |title=Kickstarting a book to end enshittification, because Amazon will not carry it |url=https://doctorow.medium.com/kickstarting-a-book-to-end-enshittification-because-amazon-will-not-carry-it-7585250dabaf |website=Medium |language=en |date=July 31, 2023 |url-access=registration}}

The market for dating apps has been cited as an example of enshittification due to the conflict between the dating apps' ostensible goal of matchmaking, and their operators' desire to convert users to the paid version of the app and retaining them as paying users indefinitely by keeping them single, creating a perverse incentive that leads performance to decline over time as efforts at monetization begin to dominate.{{Cite web |last=Rosalsky |first=Greg |date=February 13, 2024 |title=The dating app paradox: Why dating apps may be worse than ever |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2024/02/13/1228749143/the-dating-app-paradox-why-dating-apps-may-be-worse-than-ever |access-date=February 17, 2024 |website=NPR |quote=Dating apps aren't alone in seemingly getting worse when they try to make money. In fact, last year journalist Cory Doctorow coined a term for this pattern: 'enshittification.' Basically, Doctorow says tech platforms start off trying to make their user experiences really good because their first goal is to try to become popular and achieve scale. But over time, they inevitably pursue their ultimate goal of making money, which ends up making the whole user experience 'enshittified.'}} Mathematical modeling has suggested that it is in the financial interests of app operators to offer their user base a sub-optimal experience.{{Cite journal |last1=Voigt |first1=Sebastian |last2=Hinz |first2=Oliver |date=October 1, 2015 |title=Network effects in two-sided markets: why a 50/50 user split is not necessarily revenue optimal |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s40685-015-0018-z |journal=Business Research |language=en |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=139–170 |doi=10.1007/s40685-015-0018-z |issn=2198-2627 |hdl-access=free |hdl=10419/156274}}

{{see also|Criticism of Facebook}}

According to Doctorow, Facebook offered a good service until it had reached a "critical mass" of users, and it became difficult for people to leave because they would need to convince their friends to go with them. Facebook then began to add posts from media companies into feeds until the media companies too were dependent on traffic from Facebook, and then adjusted the algorithm to prioritize paid "boosted" posts. Business Insider agreed with the view that Facebook was being enshittified, adding that it "constantly floods users' feeds with sponsored (or 'recommended') content, and seems to bury the things people want to see under what Facebook decides is relevant".{{Cite news|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-companies-ruining-apps-websites-internet-worse-google-facebook-amazon-2023-3|title=Google, Amazon, and Meta are making their core products worse — on purpose|first=Ed|last=Zitron|work=Business Insider|date=March 27, 2023|access-date=October 23, 2023|archive-date=October 23, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231023183220/https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-companies-ruining-apps-websites-internet-worse-google-facebook-amazon-2023-3|url-status=live}} Doctorow pointed at the Facebook metrics controversy, in which video statistics were inflated on the site, which led to media companies over-investing in Facebook and collapsing. He described Facebook as "terminally enshittified".

{{see also|Criticism of Google}}

Doctorow cites Google Search as one example, which became dominant through relevant search results and minimal ads, then later degraded through increased advertising, search engine optimization, and outright fraud, benefitting its advertising customers. This was followed by Google rigging the ad market through Jedi Blue to recapture value for itself. Doctorow also cites Google's firing of 12,000 employees in January 2023, which coincided with a stock buyback scheme which "would have paid all their salaries for the next 27 years", as well as Google's rush to research an AI search chatbot, "a tool that won't show you what you ask for, but rather, what it thinks you should see".{{cite news |last=Yang |first=Mary |title=Google is cutting 12,000 jobs, adding to a series of Big Tech layoffs in January |url=https://www.npr.org/2023/01/20/1150234270/google-layoffs-12000-jobs |access-date=October 30, 2023 |work=NPR |date=January 20, 2023 |archive-date=October 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231030230418/https://www.npr.org/2023/01/20/1150234270/google-layoffs-12000-jobs |url-status=live}}{{cite news |last=Godfrey |first=Lisa |title=Scams, conspiracies, and surprising theories on why we fall victim to them |url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/scams-fraud-credulity-1.6816036 |access-date=October 30, 2023 |work=CBC |date=April 20, 2023 |archive-date=October 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231030230417/https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/scams-fraud-credulity-1.6816036 |url-status=live}}

{{See also|Criticism of Netflix}}

After years of competing fiercely in the "streaming wars", Netflix emerged as the main winner in the early 2020s.{{cite web |last=Lee |first=Wendy |title=How Netflix survived the streaming wars to stay the subscription video king |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2024-03-06/how-netflix-held-onto-its-crown-as-king-of-streaming |date=March 6, 2024 |access-date=October 22, 2024}} Once it had achieved a quasi-monopolistic position, Netflix proceeded to raise prices, introduce an ad-supported tier, with Netflix also discontinuing its cheapest ad-free plan in the UK and Canada in 2024,{{cite news |last=Reuter |first=Dominick |title=Netflix axes its cheapest ad-free plan in the UK and Canada, giving users deadlines to upgrade |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/netflix-users-uk-canada-report-deadlines-to-upgrade-2024-7 |access-date=November 23, 2024 |work=Business Insider |date=July 4, 2024}} as well as a crackdown on password sharing.{{cite web |last=Bode |first=Karl |title=Streaming's Slow Enshittification Continues As Netflix Kicks Users Off Cheapest Ad-Free Tiers |work=Techdirt |url=https://www.techdirt.com/2024/07/10/streamings-slow-enshittification-continues-as-netflix-kicks-users-off-cheapest-ad-free-tiers/ |date=July 10, 2024 |access-date=October 22, 2024}}

File:Fuck spez.png users protest the changes on r/place. "Spez" is the username of the Reddit CEO, Steve Huffman.]]

{{see also|2023 Reddit API controversy}}

In 2023, shortly after its initial filings for an initial public offering, Reddit announced that it would begin charging fees for API access, a move that would effectively shut down many third-party apps by making them cost-prohibitive to operate.{{cite book|first1=Jennifer C|last1=Wright|title=Stakeholder Management in Change Initiatives: Reddit Changes Its API Pricing|url=https://sk.sagepub.com/cases/stakeholder-management-in-change-initiatives-reddit-changes|date=2024|location=London|publisher=Sage Publications|doi=10.4135/9781071941379 |isbn=978-1-0719-4137-9 |via=SAGE Knowledge}} CEO Steve Huffman stated that it was in response to AI firms scraping data without paying Reddit for it, but coverage linked the move to the upcoming IPO; the move shut down large numbers of third-party apps, forcing users to use official Reddit apps that provided more profit to the company.{{cite journal|first1=Sal|last1=Hagen|title=No Space for Reddit Spacing: Mapping the Reflexive Relationship Between Groups on 4chan and Reddit|journal=Social Media + Society|date=2023|issn=2056-3051|volume=9|issue=4|doi=10.1177/20563051231216960|doi-access=free}} Moderators on the site conducted a blackout protest against the company's new policy, although the changes ultimately went ahead. Many third party Reddit apps such as the Apollo app were shut down because of the new fees.{{cite news |last1=Plunkett |first1=Luke |title=Minecraft Subreddit Loses Support From Devs Who Disapprove Of Reddit Changes |url=https://kotaku.com/minecraft-reddit-protest-huffman-ceo-subreddit-mojang-1850589115 |access-date=October 23, 2023 |work=Kotaku |date=June 28, 2023 |language=en |archive-date=October 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231024021424/https://kotaku.com/minecraft-reddit-protest-huffman-ceo-subreddit-mojang-1850589115 |url-status=live}}{{Cite web |last=Breland |first=Ali |title=Why Reddit is destined to turn to crap |url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/06/reddit-blackout/ |access-date=September 15, 2023 |website=Mother Jones |language=en-US |archive-date=July 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230705074202/https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/06/reddit-blackout/ |url-status=live}}{{cite magazine |last1=Ashworth |first1=Boone |date=June 17, 2023 |title=The Reddit Blackout Is Breaking Reddit |magazine=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/story/the-reddit-blackout-is-breaking-reddit/ |access-date=June 18, 2023 |archive-date=June 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230617220230/https://www.wired.com/story/the-reddit-blackout-is-breaking-reddit/ |url-status=live}}

In September 2024, Reddit announced that moderators will no longer have the ability of changing subreddit accessibility from "public" to "private" without approval from Reddit staff. This was widely interpreted by moderators as a punitive change in response to the 2023 API protests.{{Cite web |title=Reddit is making sitewide protests basically impossible |date=September 30, 2024 |url=https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/30/24253727/reddit-communities-subreddits-request-protests |work=The Verge |first=Jay |last=Peters}}

{{main|Twitter under Elon Musk}}

The term was applied to the changes to Twitter in the wake of its 2022 acquisition by Elon Musk.{{cite news |last=Naughton |first=John |date=March 11, 2023 |title=Users, advertisers – we are all trapped in the 'enshittification' of the Internet |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/mar/11/users-advertisers-we-are-all-trapped-in-the-enshittification-of-the-internet |access-date=June 1, 2023 |archive-date=May 31, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230531091551/http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/mar/11/users-advertisers-we-are-all-trapped-in-the-enshittification-of-the-internet |url-status=live}} This included the closure of the service's API to stop interoperable software from being used, suspending users for posting (rival service) Mastodon handles in their profiles, and placing restrictions on the ability to view the site without logging in. Other changes included temporary rate limits for the number of tweets that could be viewed per day, the introduction of paid subscriptions to the service in the form of Twitter Blue (later renamed to X Premium), and the reduction of moderation.{{Cite news|url=https://www.techdirt.com/2023/07/05/it-turns-out-elon-is-speedrunning-the-enshittification-learning-curve-not-the-content-moderation-one/|title=It Turns Out Elon Is Speedrunning The Enshittification Learning Curve, Not The Content Moderation One|date=July 5, 2023|first=Mike|last=Masnick|website=Techdirt|access-date=October 16, 2023|archive-date=October 16, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231016111512/https://www.techdirt.com/2023/07/05/it-turns-out-elon-is-speedrunning-the-enshittification-learning-curve-not-the-content-moderation-one/|url-status=live}} Musk had the algorithm modified to promote his own posts above others, which caused users' feeds to be flooded with his content in February 2023.{{cite web |last1=Newton |first1=Casey |title=Yes, Elon Musk created a special system for showing you all his tweets first |url=https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/14/23600358/elon-musk-tweets-algorithm-changes-twitter |website=The Verge |language=en |date=February 15, 2023}} In April 2024, Musk announced that new users would have to pay a fee to be able to post.{{cite web |last=Gavin |first=William |date=15 April 2024 |title=Elon Musk says new X users have to pay to tweet |url=https://qz.com/elon-musk-twitter-spam-bots-annual-fee-tweet-1851411201 |website=Quartz |language=en}}

The changes led to a dramatic decline in revenue for the company. The increase in hate speech on the platform, particularly antisemitism and Islamophobia during the Gaza war, led to some organizations pulling advertisements.{{cite web |last1=Cooban |first1=Anna |title=EU stops advertising on X over hate speech. Fines could follow next year |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2023/11/22/tech/eu-advertising-x-hate-speech/index.html |website=CNN |language=en |date=November 22, 2023}} According to internal documents seen by The New York Times in late 2023, the losses from advertisers were projected to cost the company $75 million by the end of the year.{{cite web |last1=Mac |first1=Ryan |last2=Conger |first2=Kate |title=X May Lose Up to $75 Million in Revenue as More Advertisers Pull Out |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/24/business/x-elon-musk-advertisers.html |website=The New York Times |date=November 24, 2023}} Musk delivered an interview on November 29, 2023, in which he told advertisers leaving the website to "go fuck yourself."{{cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/29/23981928/elon-musk-ad-boycott-go-fuck-yourself-destroy-x|title=Elon Musk tells advertisers: 'Go fuck yourself' |website=The Verge |date=November 30, 2023|access-date=January 11, 2024 |first1=Jacob |last1=Kastrenakes |first2=Mia |last2=Sato}}{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-x-advertisers-interview/|title=Elon Musk Just Told Advertisers, 'Go Fuck Yourself'|magazine=Wired|date=November 29, 2023|access-date=January 11, 2024 |first=Lauren |last=Goode}} By August 2024, revenue had fallen 84% compared to before Musk's ownership.{{cite web |date=August 23, 2024 |title=As Twitter's Revenue Collapses By 84%, Tesla Bulls Fear Elon Musk Will Liquidate More Tesla Stock, Bringing Its Value Down For Everyone |url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/twitters-revenue-collapses-84-tesla-171535190.html?guccounter=1 |website=Yahoo Finance}} As a result of Musk's acquisition tens of millions of users migrated to a new platform, Bluesky.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-is-bluesky-why-are-people-leaving-x-platform/|title=What is Bluesky, the online platform welcoming users leaving Elon Musk's X? - CBS News|first=Amanda|last=Cappelli|date=November 17, 2024|website=www.cbsnews.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.midiaresearch.com/blog/the-bluesky-migration-how-cultural-shifts-can-disrupt-even-the-most-established-social-media-platforms|title=The BlueSky migration: How cultural shifts can disrupt even the most established social media platforms|first=Hanna|last=Kahlert|date=November 19, 2024|website=MIDiA Research}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/dec/11/from-x-to-bluesky-why-are-people-abandoning-twitter-digital-town-square|title=From X to Bluesky: why are people fleeing Elon Musk's 'digital town square'?|first=Raphael|last=Boyd|work=The Guardian |date=December 11, 2024}}

{{see also|Controversies involving Uber}}

App-based ridesharing company Uber gained market share by ignoring local licensing systems such as taxi medallions while also keeping consumer costs artificially low by subsidizing rides via venture capital funding.{{cite news |last=Zuckerman |first=Ethan |date=October 4, 2023 |title=How we've enshittified the tech economy |url=https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/technology/63324/how-weve-enshittified-the-tech-economy |work=Prospect |access-date=February 9, 2024 |quote=A similar phenomenon is playing out across the digital economy, as tech-powered giants who surfed the digital wave to success abandon the practices that made them popular with consumers in the first place. Having done that, they then turn on their suppliers as well, in a bid to claw back all the value for themselves. Whenever this happens it doesn’t end well for anyone.}} Once they achieved a duopoly with competitor Lyft, the company implemented surge pricing to increase the cost of travel to riders and dynamically adjust the payments made to drivers. The suitability of Uber surge pricing as an example of the phenomenon of enshittification is questionable, however, as surge pricing has been found to increase the quantity of drivers during periods when the surge pricing is in effect and a reallocation of rides to those who receive the most benefit from them.{{Cite web |last=Hall |first=Jonathan |last2=Kendrick |first2=Cory |last3=Nosko |first3=Chris |date=October 2015 |title=The Effects of Uber’s Surge Pricing: A Case Study |url=https://economicsforlife.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/effects_of_ubers_surge_pricing.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240806164634/https://economicsforlife.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/effects_of_ubers_surge_pricing.pdf |archive-date=2024-08-06}}{{cite web |last=Camilo Castillo |first=Juan |date=28 December 2019 |title=Who Benefits from Surge Pricing? |url=https://economics.sas.upenn.edu/system/files/2020-01/JMP_Castillo.pdf |access-date=2025-05-03}} This increase in quantity has been found to increase the availability of Ubers for riders, keeping waiting times low and ride completion rates high during periods of surge pricing.

{{see also|Unity (game engine)#Runtime fee reception}}

The proposed (and eventually abandoned) changes to the Unity game engine's licensing model in 2023 were described by Gameindustry.biz as an example of enshittification, as the changes would have applied retroactively to projects which had already been in development for years while degrading quality for both developers and end users, while increasing fees.{{cite web |last=Sinclair |first=Brendan |title=Unity's self-combustion engine {{!}} This Week in Business |url=https://www.gamesindustry.biz/unitys-self-combustion-engine-this-week-in-business |website=GamesIndustry.biz |language=en |date=September 15, 2023 |access-date=October 13, 2023 |archive-date=October 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231012224902/https://www.gamesindustry.biz/unitys-self-combustion-engine-this-week-in-business |url-status=live}} While the Unity Engine itself is not a two-sided market, the move was related to Unity's position as a provider of mobile free-to-play services to developers, including in-app purchase systems.{{Cite web |last=Vilberg |first=Petter |date=September 14, 2023 |title=Unity's Just Not Into You, Indie Developer |url=https://www.gamedeveloper.com/blogs/unity-s-just-not-into-you-indie-developer |access-date=November 15, 2023 |website=Game Developer |language=en}}

In response to these changes, many game developers announced their intention to abandon Unity for an alternative engine, despite the significant switching cost of doing so, with game designer Sam Barlow specifically using the word enshittification when describing the new fee policy as the motive.{{cite news |last=Kerr |first=Chris |date=September 13, 2023 |title=Rust creator tells Unity to 'get fucked' in response to runtime fees |url=https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/rust-creator-tells-unity-to-get-fucked-as-developers-left-seething-by-new-fee |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231107225602/https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/rust-creator-tells-unity-to-get-fucked-as-developers-left-seething-by-new-fee |archive-date=November 7, 2023 |access-date=November 7, 2023 |work=Game Developer |language=en}}{{br}}Citing: {{cite news |last=Maiberg |first=Emanuel |date=September 12, 2023 |title='This Is a Disaster:' Game Developers Scramble to Deal With Unity's New Fees |url=https://www.404media.co/unity-new-fees-prices/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231107225600/https://www.404media.co/unity-new-fees-prices/ |archive-date=November 7, 2023 |access-date=November 7, 2023 |work=404 Media |language=en}} Use of the Unity engine at game jams declined rapidly in 2024 as indie developers switched to other engines. Unity usage at the Global Game Jam declined to 36% that year, from 61% in 2023. The GMTK Game Jam also reported a major decline in Unity usership.{{cite web |last=Bespyatova |first=Ekaterina |title=Organizers of the GMTK Game Jam: Over the year, the share of Unity games declined sharply, while the share of Godot games increased |url=https://app2top.com/news/organizers-of-the-gmtk-game-jam-over-the-year-the-share-of-unity-games-declined-sharply-while-the-share-of-godot-games-increased-270588.html |website=App2 Top |language=en |date=August 23, 2024}}{{cite web |title=Game Engine Popularity in 2024 |url=https://gamefromscratch.com/game-engine-popularity-in-2024/ |website=GameFromScratch |date=January 29, 2024}}

{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}

• {{annotated link|AI slop}}
• {{annotated link|Brain rot}}
• {{annotated link|Channel drift}}
• {{annotated link|Dead Internet theory}}
• {{annotated link|Doomscrolling}}
• {{annotated link|Double marginalization}}
• {{annotated link|Dumping (pricing policy)}}
• {{annotated link|Echo chamber (media)}}
• {{annotated link|Embrace, extend, and extinguish}}
• {{annotated link|Freemium}}
• {{annotated link|Market maker}}
• {{annotated link|Planned obsolescence}}
• {{annotated link|Radio homogenization}}
• {{annotated link|Shrinkflation}}
• {{annotated link|Walled garden (technology)}}
• {{Annotated link|Wirth's law}}

{{Div col end}}

{{reflist |refs=

{{cite web |url=https://doctorow.medium.com/social-quitting-1ce85b67b456 |title=Social Quitting |last=Doctorow |first=Cory |date=November 15, 2022 |access-date=October 23, 2023 |archive-date=October 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231030230634/https://doctorow.medium.com/social-quitting-1ce85b67b456 |url-status=live}}

{{cite news |last=Ball |first=James |date=July 4, 2023 |title=The slow, sad death of Twitter |work=The New European |url=https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/the-slow-sad-death-of-twitter/ |access-date=July 5, 2023 |quote=That means lots of blue ticks stop paying – but everyone else is forced to read the low-quality content that the remaining blue ticks produce. This is what is powering the enshittification of Twitter. |archive-date=July 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230705123723/https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/the-slow-sad-death-of-twitter/ |url-status=live}}

}}

• {{Cite news |date=2025-02-05 |title=As Internet enshittification marches on, here are some of the worst offenders |url=https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/02/as-internet-enshittification-marches-on-here-are-some-of-the-worst-offenders/ |access-date=2025-02-05 |website=Ars Technica |language=en-US}}

• {{Wiktionary-inline|enshittification}}

{{Platform economy}}

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