Organized Money The Enshitification Life Cycle With Cory Doctorow
Dec 23, 2025
Cory Doctorow, an author and digital rights activist, discusses his book on 'enshittification,' a term he coined to describe the decline of digital platforms. He explains a three-stage cycle where user-friendly services morph into profit-driven entities, leading to user dissatisfaction. The conversation spans topics like the implications of digital rights management, the importance of coalition-building for privacy reforms, and how countries could foster tech alternatives. Doctorow highlights the responsibility to resist algorithmic exploitation and defend digital rights.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
How The Term Was Born
- Cory coined 'enshittification' after a TripAdvisor experience where trackers broke the site, making the term a useful framing device.
- He used the word to make abstract tech policy issues more salient to general audiences.
The Platform Enshittification Cycle
- Platforms follow a three-stage decay: win users, monetize by hurting users, then extract from locked-in businesses until everything is useless.
- Cory Doctorow links this pattern to weakened competition, regulation, worker power, and interoperable technology.
Why Firms Keep Getting Worse
- Discipline on firms eroded as competition, regulation, worker leverage, and interoperable tech disappeared, letting firms keep extracting value.
- Doctorow argues policy choices enabled this environment rather than mere market inevitability.