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

Adobe forcing a software-subscription model so that artists have little control over necessary tools and find it prohibitively difficult to cancel any services—it’s all enshittification.

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Outlets like Wired and the Financial Times prominently republished the blogger’s screeds on the topic; the American Dialect Society deemed enshittification its 2023 Word of the Year; thinkers like Paul Krugman and Slate’s own Dahlia Lithwick have expanded its lens to make sense of the crumbling of American democracy.

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I spoke with Doctorow last week about the long history of enshittification, the bad legal and regulatory incentives that fueled its ubiquity, and why he still has hope the internet can be better.

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Nitish Pahwa: When was the first time you began thinking about the concept represented by the term enshittification?

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Enshittification has been something I’ve been warning people about since the Napster wars.

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