A theory why the internet is going down the toilet

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A few years ago, Cory Doctorow coined a word that took the internet by storm. It appeared everywhere, including in our newsletter that analyzed why dating apps are breaking the hearts of their users. The American Dialect Society named it its word of the year in 2023. Merriam-Webster even added it to its dictionary — despite it having a swear word in it.

The word Doctorow coined is “enshittification.” And, naturally, that's also the title of his new book.

Enshittification is more than just a catchy word, describing when companies turn to crap. For Doctorow, a long-time internet activist and journalist, it describes a specific process he sees in the evolution — or, really, the devolution — of internet platforms, like Facebo