Enshittification – Decline of Digital Platforms Explained

The digital world in 2025 shows clear signs of decline in user experience across major platforms. Once user-friendly services like YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Google, and Amazon have progressively worsened due to deliberate changes favouring business interests over users. This phenomenon is known as enshittification, a term coined in 2022 by tech journalist Cory Doctorow. It describes the process through which internet platforms degrade over time as their owners prioritise profits over quality service.

Definition and Origin of Enshittification

Enshittification refers to the intentional deterioration of internet platforms by their decision-makers. Initially, platforms serve users well to build a strong base. Then, they shift focus to monetising users by prioritising advertisers and business customers. Finally, they exploit these business customers to extract maximum value, leading to the platform’s collapse. The term was introduced by Cory Doctorow to capture this widespread trend.

Symptoms of Enshittification

Common signs include an increase in unskippable advertisements, paid features replacing once-free services, biased algorithms favouring company products, and a rise in low-value or fake content. Apps are especially vulnerable because users have fewer options to block ads or customise experiences compared to web platforms.

Factors Influencing Enshittification

Four key factors affect the extent of enshittification – competition among platforms, government regulation, user self-help tools, and unionisation of tech workers. Strong competition and regulation can limit exploitative changes. Likewise, empowered users and organised tech employees can push back against harmful updates. Weakness in these areas often enables platforms to degrade user experience unchecked.

Impact on Social Media Platforms

Social media giants exemplify enshittification. Facebook now prioritises advertisers and publishers over friends’ posts. Instagram floods feeds with ads and viral videos, reducing genuine content visibility. Twitter, rebranded as X, allows paid verification, enabling scammers and bots to dominate. These changes harm authentic user engagement and trust.

Changes in Streaming and Entertainment

Streaming services like YouTube and Spotify have increased subscription fees and inserted more ads in free versions. YouTube blocks ad blockers and promotes paid features to boost creators. Spotify limits free users’ control over playlists and allegedly replaces original artists in popular playlists with royalty-free soundalikes. Such shifts pressure users to pay more or abandon the service.

E-commerce and Search Engine Effects

Amazon’s search results prioritise paid listings and its own products over quality or relevance. Cancelling subscriptions like Amazon Prime has become deliberately difficult. Google’s AI-driven search mixes content from various sources, often favouring its own services and compromising result quality. These practices reduce consumer choice and trust.

Broader Implications

Enshittification reflects the power imbalance between Big Tech companies and their users. It marks the need for stronger antitrust laws, better digital literacy, and collective action by users and workers. Without intervention, digital platforms risk losing relevance and user loyalty as dissatisfaction grows.

Questions for UPSC:

1. Critically discuss the role of government regulation and competition in curbing monopolistic practices of Big Tech companies in the digital economy.
2. Analyse the impact of digital platform monopolies on consumer rights and privacy. How can policy frameworks balance innovation and user protection?
3. Examine the phenomenon of algorithmic bias in search engines and social media. What are its implications for information access and democracy?
4. Point out the challenges and benefits of unionisation in the technology sector. How can tech worker movements influence corporate governance and ethical practices?

Answer Hints:

1. Critically discuss the role of government regulation and competition in curbing monopolistic practices of Big Tech companies in the digital economy.

1. Government regulation can enforce antitrust laws to prevent market dominance and promote fair competition.
2. Strong regulatory frameworks can mandate transparency, data protection, and limit anti-competitive mergers.
3. Competition drives innovation, better user experience, and prevents exploitation by dominant players.
4. Weak regulation and lax antitrust enforcement enable Big Tech to engage in self-preferencing and exploit users.
5. Challenges include regulatory capture, fast-evolving tech, and global jurisdictional issues.
6. Balanced policies must encourage innovation while preventing monopolistic abuse and protecting consumer interests.

2. Analyse the impact of digital platform monopolies on consumer rights and privacy. How can policy frameworks balance innovation and user protection?

1. Monopolies reduce consumer choice, often degrade service quality, and impose unfair paywalls or ads (enshittification).
2. User privacy is compromised by data harvesting, targeted advertising, and opaque algorithms.
3. Policy frameworks can enforce data protection laws (e.g., GDPR), mandate user consent, and limit data misuse.
4. Innovation should be encouraged via incentives but within boundaries that protect user rights and privacy.
5. Transparency requirements for algorithms and business practices help users make informed decisions.
6. Multi-stakeholder engagement (users, regulators, companies) is essential for balanced digital governance.

3. Examine the phenomenon of algorithmic bias in search engines and social media. What are its implications for information access and democracy?

1. Algorithmic bias favors content that benefits platform owners or advertisers, skewing information visibility.
2. Self-preferencing reduces diversity of viewpoints, promoting echo chambers and misinformation.
3. Biased algorithms can undermine trust in democratic institutions by spreading fake news or extremist content.
4. Users face difficulty accessing authoritative or minority voices due to commercial or political filtering.
5. Algorithmic transparency and independent audits are crucial to identify and mitigate bias.
6. Democratic discourse requires fair, unbiased access to information and digital literacy among users.

4. Point out the challenges and benefits of unionisation in the technology sector. How can tech worker movements influence corporate governance and ethical practices?

1. Unionisation empowers workers to negotiate better wages, working conditions, and resist exploitative policies.
2. Tech workers can influence ethical decisions, such as opposing harmful AI uses or privacy violations.
3. Challenges include employer resistance, dispersed workforce, and lack of legal frameworks supporting tech unions.
4. Organised workers can increase transparency and accountability in corporate governance.
5. Union actions can pressure companies to prioritize user welfare and long-term platform health over short-term profit.
6. Successful tech unions encourage a culture of ethical responsibility and sustainable innovation.