“Enshittification”: Cory Doctorow on Why Big Tech Sucks, Keeps Getting Worse & What to Do About It | Democracy Now!

Writer Cory Doctorow returns to Democracy Now! to discuss his new book Enshittification, which explores the term he coined in 2022 to describe how online platforms like Facebook degrade over time as companies seek to maximize profit at the expense of their users, and it has since become shorthand for describing a pervasive sense of dropping standards across various aspects of modern life. Enshittification is “the collapse of discipline,” says Doctorow. “America’s ruling class has managed to neutralize all the discipline that it ever faced. Their weirdest, worst ideas are the ones that we’re all stuck with.” Doctorow also elaborates on a point he makes in his book: “Donald Trump’s election represents the ultimate triumph of enshittification in the political realm.”