Decoder with Nilay Patel How Silicon Valley enshittified the internet
199 snips
Oct 30, 2025 
Cory Doctorow, an influential author and internet activist, delves into his concept of 'enshittification,' explaining how platforms decline and why this trend began around 2017. He highlights Facebook as a prime case of this decay, detailing its journey from innovation to mediocrity. Doctorow discusses the failures of U.S. tech regulation and contrasts the tech landscape with retail. He proposes solutions like sectoral bargaining and improved portability for users, and while he expresses hope for change, he remains critical of Big Tech's grip on the internet.
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Three-Stage Platform Decay
- Platforms follow a three-stage decay: favor users, favor business customers, then extract all surplus for themselves.
- Cory Doctorow argues this pattern explains why once-good services become unusable and hostile to users.
TripAdvisor Tweet Sparked The Term
- Cory coined "enshittification" after a frustrated tweet about TripAdvisor's trackers breaking his holiday browsing.
- The vulgar term helped package a technical critique into a resonant, widely-shared idea.
W3C DRM Was A Turning Point
- Adding DRM into browsers (W3C decision) removed user protections and made security research and accessibility hacks risky or illegal.
- Doctorow marks the W3C DRM adoption around 2017 as a turning point in losing technical discipline on the web.
