enshittification

Sometimes shit·ti·fi·ca·tion

[en-shit-uh-fi-key-shuhn]

noun

1. the gradual degradation of an online platform or service's functionality, as part of a cycle in which the platform or service first offers benefits to users to attract them, then pursues more and more profits at the expense of users.

   There's been a significant enshittification of the website in just this year alone.

Word History and Origins

Origin of enshittification¹

Coined in 2022 by Canadian author Cory Doctorow (born 1971); en- ¹ ( def. ) + shit ( def. ) + -i- ( def. ) + -fication ( def. )

Example Sentences

What I mean is income inequality, deindustrialization, enshittification, institutional cowardice; put the Latinx stuff in there if you want, and then please stop bringing it up, there are more important things happening.

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I don’t believe that RedZone is on its way to full-scale enshittification, wherein the viewer experience will degrade until there’s a 15-second break between every Russell Wilson incomplete pass.

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The whole screed reads like a lament of enshittification, without using the term or even nodding to Cory Doctorow’s theories.

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The enshittification of America has begun.

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Now that the company has tasted stock market riches, is it on the fast track to enshittification, that perfect neologism for the way profit maximization inevitably ruins everything good online?

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