Enshittification

{{Short description|Decline in online platform quality}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}} [[File:Enshittification poop emoji logo.png|thumb|The poop emoji representation of enshittification from the cover of Doctorow's 2025 book ''Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It'']] '''Enshittification''', also known as '''platform decay''', is a process in which two-sided online products and services decline in quality over time. Initially, vendors create high-quality offerings to attract users, then they degrade those offerings to better serve business customers, and finally degrade their services to both users and business customers to maximize short-term profits for shareholders.

Canadian writer Cory Doctorow coined the neologism ''enshittification'' in November 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gault |first=Matthew |date=November 26, 2024 |title='Enshittification' Is Officially the Biggest Word of the Year |url=https://gizmodo.com/enshittification-is-officially-the-biggest-word-of-the-year-2000530173 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250503040526/https://gizmodo.com/enshittification-is-officially-the-biggest-word-of-the-year-2000530173|archive-date=3 May 2025|publisher=Gizmodo |language=en-US}}</ref> The American Dialect Society selected it as its 2023 Word of the Year, with Australia's ''Macquarie Dictionary'' following suit for 2024. Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com also list ''enshittification'' as a word.<ref>{{Cite web |title=enshittification |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/slang/enshittification |access-date=2025-05-03 |website=www.merriam-webster.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Dictionary.com {{!}} Meanings & Definitions of English Words |url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/enshittification |access-date=2025-05-03 |website=Dictionary.com |language=en}}</ref>{{NoteTag|Merriam-Webster used the broader definition of "when a digital platform is made worse for users, in order to increase profits", rather than Doctorow's three-stage model.}}

Doctorow advocates for two ways to reduce enshittification: upholding the end-to-end principle, which asserts that platforms should transmit data in response to user requests rather than algorithm-driven decisions; and guaranteeing the right of exit—that is, enabling a user to leave a platform without losing access to data, which requires interoperability. These moves aim to uphold the standards and trustworthiness of online platforms, emphasize user satisfaction, and encourage market competition.

==History and definition== Cory Doctorow first used ''enshittification'' as a descriptor of service degradation and formalized its meaning in a November 2022 blog post<ref name="BlogCoinage2022" /> that was republished three months later in ''Locus''.<ref>{{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}}</ref> He expanded on the concept in another blog post<ref>{{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}}</ref> that was republished in the January 2023 edition of ''Wired'':<ref name="Doctorow-2023" />[[File:Wired Portrait by Julia Galdo and Cody Cloud (JUCO) 6 - Flickr - gruntzooki.jpg|thumb|upright|Cory Doctorow popularized the term ''enshittification'' in a 2022 blog post.|alt=Cory Doctorow.]]{{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 {{em|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".<ref name="Doctorow-2024">{{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}}</ref>

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.<ref name="DataParadoxes">{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Doctorow-2023" /> 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> Enshittification can be seen as a form of rent-seeking.<ref name="Doctorow-2023">{{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}}</ref>[[File:DEF CON 31 - An Audacious Plan to Halt the Internet's Enshittification - Cory Doctorow (q118B QdP2k).webm|thumb|"An Audacious Plan to Halt the Internet's Enshittification", a talk by Doctorow at DEF CON 31 in 2023]]

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,<ref name="Doctorow-07-Mar-2023">{{Cite web |last=Doctorow |first=Cory |date=March 7, 2023 |title=End to End |url=https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/07/disenshittification/ |access-date=May 31, 2026 |website=Pluralistic |language=en}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Doctorow-2023a">{{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}}</ref> * 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.<ref name="Doctorow-2023a" />

In October 2025, Doctorow released a book titled ''Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Doctorow |first1=Cory |title=Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It |date=2025 |publisher=Verso Books |isbn=978-1836742227}}</ref>

== Reception == "Enshittification" has been cited by various scholars and journalists as a framework for understanding the decline in quality of online platforms. Discussions about the term 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.<ref>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}}</ref> This phenomenon has sparked debates about the need for regulatory interventions and alternative models to ensure the integrity and quality of digital platforms.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

The American Dialect Society selected ''enshittification'' as its 2023 word of the year.<ref name="Doctorow-2024" /><ref>{{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}}</ref>

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.<ref name="t749">{{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}}</ref>

== Impact == Academic researchers have further broadened the impact of the term by applying it to labour relations and the structure of digital work. In a 2025 study, Maffie and Hurtado argue that enshittification offers a useful framework for understanding how gig-economy platforms, as used, for example, by ride-hail and grocery delivery services, steadily degrade the quality of work available to independent contractors. They contend that platform companies undergo a predictable shift from providing favourable conditions to workers toward implementing policies that increase precarity, opacity, and unequal power dynamics. Their analysis positions enshittification as not only a description of consumer-facing platform decline, but a broader socio-economic process that can reshape labour markets themselves.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Maffie |first=Michael David |last2=Hurtado |first2=Hector |date=2025-08-05 |title=The Enshittification of Work: Platform Decay and Labour Conditions in the Gig Economy |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjir.70004 |journal=British Journal of Industrial Relations |language=en |doi=10.1111/bjir.70004 |issn=0007-1080|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

A study was conducted by Ardoline and Lenzo that determines that platform decay causes cognitive and moral harm due to a loss in users' ability to process information.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ardoline |first=Michael J. |last2=Lenzo |first2=Edward |date=2025-07-26 |title=The cognitive and moral harms of platform decay |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-025-09846-1 |journal=Ethics and Information Technology |language=en |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=37 |doi=10.1007/s10676-025-09846-1 |issn=1572-8439|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Users of platforms that have suffered from enshittification have continued to stay on those platforms due to a fear of missing out but often migrate between multiple different social media.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Doctorow |first=Cory |title=The internet con: how to seize the means of computation |date=2023 |publisher=Verso |isbn=978-1-80429-216-7 |location=London; New York}}</ref> Users often cite a sense of community and nostalgia as reasons to stay on platforms despite the quality decreasing over time.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Simpson |first=Ellen |last2=Semaan |first2=Bryan |date=2025-10-16 |title=The Enshittification of the Creative Internet |url=https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3757670 |journal=Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. |volume=9 |issue=7 |pages=CSCW489:1–CSCW489:24 |doi=10.1145/3757670|doi-access=free }}</ref>

==Examples==  === Academic publishing === Between 2016 and 2022 the turn over and profit margins of academic publishers increased partly due to article processing charges from open access. This has been accompanied by predatory publishers who prioritize profit over scholarly integrity. This ''Academic enshittification'' results in a scholarly system that is "overwhelmed by quantity, distorted by profit motives, and is stripped of its purpose of advancing knowledge."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rhodes |first=Carl |last2=Linnenluecke |first2=Martina |date=2026-01-05 |title=The 5 stages of the 'enshittification' of academic publishing |url=http://theconversation.com/the-5-stages-of-the-enshittification-of-academic-publishing-269714 |access-date=2026-01-16 |website=The Conversation |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Amazon=== {{see also|Criticism of Amazon}} In Doctorow's original post, he discussed the practices of Amazon. The online retailer began by attracting 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. 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.<ref name="Doctorow-2023" />

=== Dating apps === 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 retain 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.<ref>{{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.'}}</ref>

===Facebook=== {{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. 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".<ref name="Doctorow-2023" />

===Gig economy platforms=== A 2025 study in the ''British Journal of Industrial Relations'' applies the concept of platform decay ("enshittification") to gig-economy work, arguing that platform practices can degrade labour conditions over time.<ref name="MaffieHurtado2025">{{cite journal|last1=Maffie|first1=Michael David|last2=Hurtado|first2=Hector|title=The Enshittification of Work: Platform Decay and Labour Conditions in the Gig Economy|journal=British Journal of Industrial Relations|date=2025|doi=10.1111/bjir.70004}}</ref>

===Google Search=== {{see also|Criticism of Google}} [[File:AI Overviews result for "how to pass kidney stones...", May 22, 2024.jpg|thumb|''Ars Technica'' exemplified "enshittification" using Google Search's AI Overviews|300x300px]] 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".<ref name="Doctorow-2023" /><ref name="Doctorow-2023a" /> ''Ars Technica'' referred to the chatbot, AI Overviews, as "part of the current wave of AI-flavored enshittification", and noted how it and other large language model-based chatbots often hallucinate misinformation.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=Ars |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=2026-02-20 |website=Ars Technica |language=en}}</ref>

===Reddit=== {{see also|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. CEO Steve Huffman stated that it was in response to AI firms scraping data without paying Reddit for it.<ref name=Breland>{{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}}</ref> The move shut down large numbers of third-party apps, including the Apollo app, forcing users to use the official Reddit app.<ref name=Ashworth>{{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}}</ref> Moderators on the site conducted a blackout protest against the company's new policy, although the changes ultimately went ahead.<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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 |volume=9 |issue=4 |article-number=20563051231216960 |doi=10.1177/20563051231216960 |doi-access=free |issn=2056-3051}}</ref>

===Twitter / X=== {{main|Twitter under Elon Musk}}

The term was applied to the changes to Twitter in the wake of its 2022 acquisition by Elon Musk.<ref name="NewEuropean2023"/><ref name=Naughton>{{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}}</ref> This included the closure of the service's API to stop interoperable software from being used, suspending users for posting their handles from Twitter's rival service Mastodon in their profiles, and placing restrictions on their 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),<ref name="NewEuropean2023"/> and the reduction of moderation.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

===Uber=== {{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.<ref name="Prospect2023">{{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.}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Prospect2023"/>

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

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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Game Engine Popularity in 2024 |url=https://gamefromscratch.com/game-engine-popularity-in-2024/ |website=GameFromScratch |date=January 29, 2024}}</ref>

===Other systems=== Henry Farrell has described military hardware, the US dollar, and satellite constellations as platforms that exhibit enshittification. Countries buying US military equipment are also reliant on parts supplies, communications systems and technical support. The clearing of international dollar transactions is processed by a small number of US-regulated institutions. Countries using the Starlink satellite system are reliant on a single company with connections to the US government.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Newman |first=Abraham L. |title=The Enshittification of American Power |url=https://www.wired.com/story/enshittification-of-american-power/ |access-date=2025-09-29 |work=Wired |language=en-US |issn=1059-1028}}</ref>

== See also == {{Div col|colwidth=30em}} * {{annotated link|Channel drift}} * {{annotated link|Dark pattern}} * {{annotated link|Echo chamber (media)}} * {{annotated link|Embrace, extend, and extinguish}} * {{annotated link|Freemium}} * {{annotated link|Planned obsolescence}} {{Div col end}}

== Notes == {{notefoot}}

==References== <references>

<ref name="BlogCoinage2022">{{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}}</ref> <ref name="NewEuropean2023">{{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}}</ref>

</references>

== Further reading == *{{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}}

== External links == * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4Upf_B9RLQ A Day in the Life of an Ensh*ttificator] video and [https://storage02.forbrukerradet.no/media/2026/02/breaking-free-pathways-to-a-fair-technological-future.pdf Breaking Free] report from Forbrukerrådet (Norwegian Consumer Council) * {{Wiktionary-inline|enshittification}}

Category:2022 neologisms Category:Anti-corporate activism Category:Business models Category:Change Category:Criticisms of companies Category:Criticisms of software and websites Category:English profanity Category:History of the Internet Category:Monopoly (economics) Category:Monopsonies Category:Internet terminology Category:Pejorative terms related to technology Category:Articles containing video clips