Enshittification in 3 acts with the cure

As mentioned recently (here), "enshittification" is a concept created by Cory Doctorow (2023, 2025), Canadian-British author, academic, philosopher and critic of the digital economy. The term, enshittification, named the concept: the systematic erosion of online platforms as focus shifts from providing user service; to user exploitation maximising shareholder and founder returns (Doctorow, 2023). There are three stages: a user-friendly start, moving to a "business-to-business" exploitation mode; ending with enshittification - or total value extraction. User data is sold for targeted advertising, marketing profiling, voter analysis and forecasting. Competition is bought out and mothballed. Ownership is transferred for 'free' tools; the tools are ring-fenced, what is free becomes paid; access becomes tiered and free is worthless; all while opting out becomes more and more difficult. Companies have become monopolies. The hook was 'freemium', and the end-goal, fully paid premium. But wait! There will be a level beyond that too, I am sure. As C. S. Lewis said "Come farther up, come farther in!" (1956, p. 155), beckoning us onwards into the unknown.

Enshittification is the result of monopolies and the transfer of ownership and control. If we - the collective we - allow products without reparability, give our personal data away, and allow sharp practices, we will reap the rewards of restrictive digital ecosystems (Doctorow, 2025). I thought it was worth mentioning that there are solutions for "digital decay": prevention of monopoly-creation; allowing users to opt-out of software locks; opting out of upgrades/updates; ensuring users own their data and not allowing implied transferability via unread EULAs (end user licence agreements).

Norway has a great programme running to remind us how we can take action ourselves (Forbrukerrådet - Norwegian Consumer Council, 2026):

We could return to a more open internet, where we keep control over our devices and data. Although Tim Berners-Lee gifted the www to humanity (Berners-Lee, 2000; Fenton, 2010, p. 116), perhaps we could consider what he and his colleagues built-into the embryonic www: a micropayment 402 protocol allowing us to all pay a little, and thus create a true socially-owned space (Berners-Lee, 2000, p. 65), using the HTTP 402 placeholder 'payment required' (Li, 2026).

Something to think about.

Sam

References:

Berners-Lee, T., with Fischetti, M. (2000). Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web (1st ed.). HarperCollins Publishers.

Doctorow, C. (2023, January 23). The ‘Enshittification’ of TikTok: Or how, exactly, platforms die. Wired Magazine. https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-platforms-cory-doctorow/

Doctorow, C. (2025). Enshittification: Why everything suddenly got worse and what to do about it. Verso.

Fenton, N. (Ed.). (2010). New Media, Old News: Journalism and democracy in the digital age. SAGE Publications.

Forbrukerrådet - Norwegian Consumer Council. (2026, February 27). A Day in the Life of an Ensh*ttificator [video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/T4Upf_B9RLQ

Lewis, C. S. (1956). The Last Battle (second reprint 1965). Puffin Books.

Li, S. (2026, March 27). The War for AI Payments Has Begun: HTTP 402 Awakens After 30 Years. LinkedIn Pulse. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/war-ai-payments-has-begun-http-402-awakens-after-30-years-simon-li-tzfnc/

 * NotebookLM was used to create the claymation-style infographic components in the image accompanying this post