Author Cory Doctorow has a theory about why all tech and social platforms eventually decline

Sun, 03/03/2024 - 05:57

Mark Zuckerberg looking down whilst wearing a suit — Cory Doctorow coined the term "enshittification" to describe how platforms like Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook decayed.
Alex Wong

Cory Doctorow has a theory for why tech platforms are getting worse.
He calls the process "enshittification."
After locking users in, Doctorow believes tech platforms deliberately worsen the user experience.

Cory Doctorow has a theory for why tech platforms seem to have been sapped of all their joy: he calls it the great "enshittification."

The 52-year-old Canadian-British author coined the term as a means of describing the growing sense that platforms operated by Big Tech companies are decaying beyond recognition.

With billions of people beholden to them, that throws up a whole lot of problems.