Morning Brew Daily Podcast Summary
Episode Title: What is “Enshittification” of Tech Companies? With Author Cory Doctorow
Date: December 24, 2025
Host(s): Neal Freyman (A), Toby Howell (B)
Guest: Cory Doctorow (C), author and digital rights activist
Overview of the Episode
This compelling episode dives into the concept of "enshittification," a term coined by author and tech critic Cory Doctorow to articulate the progressive decline of user experience on large tech platforms, as they extract ever more value from users and business customers for the benefit of shareholders and executives. Doctorow pulls back the curtain on the mechanics and policy failures that allow this decline, while also offering ideas (and warnings) for media creators and users hoping to resist or reverse the process.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Origin of “Enshittification”
- Definition and Context:
Cory Doctorow explains how the term originated during a frustrating internet experience on vacation and why its mix of technical critique and vulgarity makes it resonate (02:54–05:12). - Quote:
“So in a fit of pique, I tweeted, ‘Has anyone at TripAdvisor ever been on a trip? This is the most enshittified website I’ve ever used.’ ... If it were just the vulgarity, people would have just been using it for all the interim.” – Cory Doctorow (04:38)
- Power With Words:
Doctorow reflects on the longstanding challenge of communicating digital rights to people in accessible ways and how vivid metaphors help.
2. The Process of Enshittification
- Stages Explained:
Doctorow lays out a three-stage model for how platforms systematically degrade over time (06:50–08:07):- Stage 1: Platform is good to end users, seeking to lock them in.
- Stage 2: Once users are locked in, the platform worsens user experience to benefit business customers (e.g., advertisers, publishers).
- Stage 3: Businesses, now dependent, face value extraction themselves; all remaining value is funneled to the company/shareholders.
- Facebook Case Study:
Doctorow provides a detailed, humorous narrative of how Facebook followed this lifecycle, including a memorable Mark Zuckerberg parody (08:18–12:43). - Quote:
“He makes things worse for you. And we get to stage two where he brings in business customers ... and that’s the final stage of enshittification. The platform is now a giant pile of shit.” – Cory Doctorow (11:32 & 12:33)
3. What Drives Enshittification? Policy, Not Just Greed
- Beyond Instinct:
Doctorow emphasizes that the phenomenon isn't simply companies getting greedy, but a policy environment that perversely rewards anticompetitive behavior and user exploitation (13:02–16:56). - Measured by Thriving:
“Enshittification is not just when a platform goes bad, it’s when a platform goes bad and does well.” – Cory Doctorow (13:38)
- The Four Forces that Used to Discipline Companies:
- Competition – weakened by antitrust neglect (16:56–20:25)
- Regulation – undermined by regulatory capture (20:50–23:13)
- Employee Power – diminished by union decline in tech
- Interoperability – eroded by IP laws and closed platforms
4. Monopolies, Big Tech, and Regulation
- “Is Big Inherently Bad?”
Explores whether it’s the scale or the behavior of platforms like Google that’s problematic; makes the case that integration isn’t the issue, but the lack of discipline from competition and regulation is (20:25–23:13). - Tech Industry Antitrust Failures:
Discussion of recent toothless antitrust decisions, the circular logic of regulators, and the misplaced hope that AI will “fix” competition (23:13–26:08). - Quote:
“I don't think AI is a real competitor on search. … This is like saying, well, ultimately, because you can sleep sometimes, there's always a competitor for your attention. Right? And it’s just wrong.” – Cory Doctorow (24:55)
5. Advice for Avoiding Enshittification (for Creators)
- Personal Ethics Not Enough:
“If you think … you will prevent enshittification by your own moral core … then you are going to end up getting [caught]. No one woke up in the morning and said, how can I make things worse?” – Cory Doctorow (26:25)
- Ulysses Pact:
Tie yourself to the mast—create binding commitments to protect against creeping compromise (26:25–29:39):- Open distribution (not locked to YouTube/Spotify)
- Worker unions, B Corps, irrevocable open licenses
- Quote:
“If you want to prevent yourself from compromising, you have to make compromise harder for yourself in the future.” — Cory Doctorow (26:56)
6. Applicability Outside Tech
- Broader Sectors:
He welcomes colloquial use of the term, but notes digitization is infecting other sectors with similar dynamics—like nurse staffing apps using data to depress wages (30:10–33:49).
7. The Solution: Collective Action, Not Consumer Choices
- No Individual Escape:
“You can’t just shop your way out of a monopoly … If you want to make a systemic change, you have to be part of a movement that changes the policy environment.” (34:02)
- Join Movements:
Suggests listeners join mutual aid, labor, political organizations, and points to eff.org for involvement. - Quote:
“You’re not going to like, like, make your consumption choices change this ... being part of a group is amazing. It means that instead of just like watching TikTok on a Saturday, you got a picnic to go to … it feels so good to be part of a group.” – Cory Doctorow (34:19–35:59)
8. Doctorow’s Relationship with Technology
- Not a Luddite:
Enthusiastic about technology and the internet—his work is about redirecting its social organization, not rejecting it (36:23–38:16).- “I’m not anti-technology … What science fiction writers do is not predict the future, but try and imagine a different set of social relations for the technologies around us.” – Cory Doctorow (36:30 & 37:17)
9. Science Fiction Recommendations
- Favorite Work:
Instead of “one favorite,” Doctorow recommends Distraction by Bruce Sterling for a prescient look at networked politics and technology (38:31–39:25).
Notable Quotes & Moments
- On the Vicious Circle:
“You love your friends more than you hate [Mark Zuckerberg].” (09:26)
- Antitrust and Monopolies:
“It’s like we used to not have a rat problem because we’ve been using rat poison. And these guys were like, stop putting down rat poison. And now rats are eating our faces off.” – Cory Doctorow (18:47)
- Ethics and Institutional Design:
“I think you can’t trust yourself if your only plan is ‘I’m not going to make any mistakes.’ Speaking as someone who's made a lot of terrible mistakes in his life, that is not a plan.” (29:17)
- Tech Sector Uniqueness:
“Software has got this, like, uniquely disenchantificatory aspect.” (30:51)
Timestamp Guide to Major Segments
- [02:36] Cory Doctorow joins and the story behind “enshittification”
- [06:50] Doctorow explains the three stages of platform decline
- [08:18] Facebook as a canonical case
- [12:43] Is enshittification measurable?
- [13:02] The policy environment behind enshittification
- [16:56] The four fading disciplines of company behavior
- [20:25] Is Google’s “bigness” the problem?
- [23:13] Antitrust law, Google, Apple, AI as “competition”
- [26:08] How creators can avoid enshittifying themselves
- [29:39] Broader applicability & digitized sectors
- [34:02] Solutions: systemic, not individual
- [36:23] Doctorow on technology and sci-fi
- [38:31] Fiction recommendation: Distraction by Bruce Sterling
Flow and Tone
The conversation is lively, witty, and irreverent—Doctorow riffs with the hosts, deploying memorable analogies (“rats eating our faces off”), unflinching language, and a sense of urgency. The tone is critical but hopeful, emphasizing group action and structural change over cynicism or resignation.
In sum:
Cory Doctorow’s concept of “enshittification” offers a piercing lens on how tech platforms decay under policy and economic incentives that reward value extraction at the cost of users and business partners. The solution, he argues, is not better shopping or individual virtue but collective, organized policy change to restore competition, regulation, and user power—work that requires both imagination and solidarity.