The Enshittification of Everything
Why your favorite platforms keep getting worse
October 31, 2025
Remember when Facebook showed you posts from actual friends? When Uber cars had water bottles and candy? That wasn’t kindness—it was bait.
Enshittification
The concept was coined by Cory Doctorow and it describes the inevitable lifecycle of platforms:
“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”
The Pattern:
- Phase 1: Subsidize an excellent experience to capture market share
- Phase 2: Lock users in through network effects and high switching costs
- Phase 3: Gradually degrade the experience while extracting maximum value
The Uber shitperience
Remember whe Uber offered a service with immaculate cars with free water and candy, subsidized rides cheaper than taxis. Now? Dirty cars, surge pricing, drivers earning less. If you get a clean ride at a fair price, you got lucky. The “Uber experience” became the “Ubre experience.”
Why It Happens
Once you’re captive, they don’t need to please you. Facebook has your social graph. Your bank has your money. Switching is painful, so they can degrade service without losing you. The hard truth is that platforms aren’t broken, they’re working as designed. Public companies answer to shareholders, not users. Growth means extracting more value from captured audiences.
What To Do
Recognize the pattern early. Support alternatives before they scale. Be willing to walk away even when it’s difficult; it is better to leave early than to be captive forever. Because once you’re captive, they do whatever they want. And they will.