Democracy Now! Audio "Enshittification" Part 2: Author Cory Doctorow on Technofeudalism, "Bottom-Up Resistance" Apps & More
Oct 10, 2025
Cory Doctorow, an author and digital rights activist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, discusses his new book and the concept of 'enzshittification', now in Webster’s Dictionary. He explores how technofeudalism affects platforms like Uber, detailing their exploitation of workers through changing rules and unfair practices. Doctorow also highlights 'bottom-up resistance' apps that empower workers. He advocates for tech that helps labor and criticizes the current ecosystem, promoting decentralized platforms as viable alternatives.
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Platforms Seek Rent Over Profit
- Cory Doctorow distinguishes profits from rents to explain platform economics and why firms prefer rent extraction.
- Platforms extract rents by owning access and control, which reshapes market incentives and worker relations.
Twiddling Enables Targeted Exploitation
- Doctorow describes "twiddling": platforms changing rules, prices, wages and rankings per user or interaction.
- This dynamic enables targeted exploitation like algorithmic wage cuts and personalized price increases.
How Uber Achieved Market Lock-In
- Doctorow recounts how SoftBank funded Uber and allowed prolonged losses to undercut competitors and create lock-in.
- The result was destroyed local transit markets, depressed driver wages, and reduced alternatives for riders.
