Skip to main content

enshittification 

noun. Rendering something that was previously okay or even positive into a steaming pile of shit. verb: to enshittify. past participle: enshittified
Jimmy Carter's decline serves to underline the enshittification of US politics since Reagan.
enshittification by MPgh February 20, 2023

Enshitification 

Enshitification (noun) or Enshitify (verb): refers to the gradual decline in quality of digital platforms and services, typically following a predictable pattern: platforms initially offer great value to attract users, then exploit those users to attract business customers, and finally abuse both groups to maximize profits for shareholders. This can also apply to organizations or individuals who premeditatively act with sentient malfeasance to make circumstances worse for themselves or for others.

The term was coined by journalist Cory Doctorow to describe how internet platforms become progressively worse over time. Examples include social media sites increasing ads and reducing organic reach, streaming services fragmenting content across multiple paid tiers, or search engines prioritizing paid results over useful information.

The process usually involves platforms leveraging their market dominance and user lock-in effects to extract more value while providing less utility, ultimately degrading the user experience in favor of short-term financial gains.
Example 1:

Wang: “Ashok, your LinkedIn enshitification KPIs are below expectations. Make them rise like your H-1B and RSUs depend on it.”

Ashok: “Wang, I will add videos of ‘Gen-Z Stare’ and ‘Marketing Tips from the Trailerpark’ to the feeds of everyone with at least twenty years of professional experience.”

Wang: “Very good. Now let’s ensure our enshitification KPIs and layoff some US citizens. That will get those RSUs up, too.”

Example 2:

SLC Station Owner: “I want to sell this here rim-shot signal with a loyal following and awesome deejays who know their stuff to Odd-Assy, IfartRadio, La Invasora de Culo, or K-Jeebus. Can you help me?”

Slick Radio Consultant: “Well, the first step in pre-sale enshitification is to take the music your loyal listeners enjoy, such as Stan Ridgway, Prefab Sprout and Ocean Blue and mix in some Coldplay, Evanescence and Linkin Park!”

SLC Station Owner: “That’s a great start there, sparky, but can you get me closer to sale? I need to retire to Mesquite!”

Slick Radio Consultant: “Fast-Track enshitifcation has you firing all of the beloved deejays, pissing-off the loyal listeners, and that check will clear in no time. Enjoy Mesquite!”

Example 3:

2024 American Voter: “I want to ensure rightful enshitification of 'murica for generations to come!”

2024 American Voter: Makes corresponding selection, belches, and goes for a Dairy Queen Hung'r'buster Meal afterwards

Enshittification 

The process that a company undergoes once it has either become a Monopoly (i.e Google, Microsoft, etc) but still wants to continuously impress/attract investors, so they go as far as to nickle & dime, scrub for any relevant data for potential buyers, and then create inconvenience within the service itself and sell the solution to said inconvenience. just to get as much money from their consumers to make their actual "customers" (the investors) happy.
"Google must've been real busy enshittifying their services as of late. That was 2 back to back unskippable YouTube ads. Time to get an adblocker"
"PlayStation Plus has jumped prices like 5 times this console generation! What the hell they smoking? Enshittification pack?"

Enshittification 

The pattern in which online products and services decline in quality over time. Initial high-quality products or services exist to attract users, these products are eventually degraded to serve business customers better, and ultimately reduced to solely to line shareholders pockets with no intent to

for the users' best interest.
Mod Pips took a game design masterclass on enshittification. First. he would gradually raise the price of membership and get users to combine their characters to one account. Then he would charge an ad version at the cheaper, original price and also force users to pay more for each additional account they own.

Timmy: "Wow, Mod Pips sure knows how to implement enshittification in game design!"
Ricky: "Yeah, I heard he did such a great job strangling the last game, that they promoted him all the way to CEO!"
Enshittification by PosteyPete2277 January 18, 2025

Enshittification 

The pattern in which online products and services decline in quality over time. Initial high-quality products or services exist to attract users, these products are eventually degraded to serve business customers better, and ultimately reduced to solely to line shareholders pockets with no intent to

for the users' best interest.
Mod Pips took a game design masterclass on enshittification. First. he would gradually raise the price of membership and get users to combine their characters to one account. Then he would charge an ad version at the cheaper, original price and also force users to pay more for each additional account they own.

Timmy: "Wow, Mod Pips sure knows how to implement enshittification in game design!"
Ricky: "Yeah, I heard he did such a great job strangling the last game, that they promoted him all the way to CEO!"
Enshittification by PosteyPete2277 January 18, 2025

ENSHITTIFICATION

Continuing on the path of "everything's fucked and everybody sucks"
Every morning as I rise out of bed, I ponder how much worse the enshittification has gotten since yesterday.