Podcast Summary: "The Enshittification of the Internet"
Offline with Jon Favreau
Guest: Cory Doctorow
Date: January 17, 2026
Duration: ~1 hour
Episode Overview
This episode of Offline with Jon Favreau dives into the theory of “enshittification”—a term coined by guest Cory Doctorow, prominent journalist, blogger, and science fiction author. Together, Favreau and Doctorow explore why so many online platforms and digital services have become frustrating, predatory, and, as Doctorow succinctly puts it, "shittier and shittier." The discussion digs into the structural problems behind the decay of internet platforms, the policies that have enabled it, and what—if anything—we can do to reverse or resist the trend.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. What Is Enshittification? (04:53 - 05:42)
- Definition: Doctorow defines "enshittification" as a three-stage process platforms undergo:
- Platforms are initially good to users, to attract them.
- Once users are locked in, platforms start favoring business customers (advertisers/sellers) at users’ expense.
- Ultimately, both sides—users and businesses—are squeezed for maximum profit, leading to a “giant pile of shit.”
- Doctorow emphasizes this is not inevitable but the result of deliberate policy and market structures.
Notable Quote:
"They lure people in, offer them a good deal, lock them in. Once we're locked in, Mark Zuckerberg can start turning the screws."
– Cory Doctorow [09:13]
2. Case Studies: How Platforms Decay
Facebook as the Poster Child (09:10–17:39)
- Early Facebook: Opened up to the world as a better alternative to MySpace.
- Lock-In: Users locked themselves in due to network effects (“collective action problem”).
- Advertisers and Publishers: Once users were captive, Facebook squeezed advertisers and then publishers, reducing reach and hiking prices.
- Industry Monopsony: Doctorow explains "monopsony," where powerful buyers hold suppliers hostage. (Analogy: coffee shops and office workers.)
- The Cycle: As platforms reach saturation and growth stalls, panicky pivots (e.g., Metaverse, crypto, AI) are attempted to keep up appearances for shareholders.
Notable Moment:
Doctorow’s satirical riff on Zuckerberg’s pivots:
"One day Mark Zuckerber arises from his sarcophagus and says…I'm gonna convert you and everyone you love into a legless, sexless, low polygon, heavily surreal cartoon character so that I can imprison you on a virtual world…I call the Metaverse."
– Cory Doctorow [17:14]
Amazon's Self-Interested Algorithms (17:59–21:34)
- Search & Pricing: The top Amazon search results are paid positions—not the best deals, leading to higher prices and worse products.
- Both sellers and customers are trapped due to the platform’s market dominance.
- Amazon’s "Most Favored Nation" clause ensures they have the lowest prices everywhere, indirectly raising retail prices across the economy.
Notable Quote:
"It was 45 to 51% of every dollar that a merchant brought in on Amazon was kept by Jeff Bezos. Now it’s 50 to 60%. To make that up, they have to raise prices..."
– Cory Doctorow [20:39]
3. Is Enshittification Inevitable? (24:01–28:59)
- Jon Favreau asks if it's simply “capitalism at work”—platforms seeking profit once they’ve captured the market.
- Doctorow pushes back:
- Early Google is cited, whose founders explicitly said ads would harm search.
- Surveillant, extractive advertising arose because of outdated privacy laws and a lack of regulation, not natural market evolution.
- The real driver: decades of antitrust neglect and regulatory capture, not some economic law of platform decay.
Notable Quote:
"Why does Google spy on us? The same reason your dog licks its balls. Because they can. Because we never told them they couldn't."
– Cory Doctorow [27:17]
4. Policy—The Real Battlefield (31:18–44:44)
Legal Lock-In: DMCA and Beyond (33:04–44:27)
-
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA):
- Section 121 criminalizes tampering with digital locks (access controls), even for non-infringing, harmless reasons.
- This extends corporate control indefinitely; e.g., making it illegal to repair tractors (John Deere) or medical devices (Medtronic), fostering “felony contempt of business model."
-
Right to Repair:
- Cory explains how these laws hinder repair, innovation, and user autonomy—leading to absurd, exploitative situations (e.g., hospitals unable to fix ventilators during COVID because of locked parts).
International Perspective
- The US has pressured other nations to adopt similar laws via trade threats.
- If countries or US Congress repeal these legal mechanisms, competition and user choice could return: users could run alternative clients, reclaiming social feeds or news aggregation from the platforms.
5. How Can Regulators Respond? (49:07–53:56)
- Doctorow argues the US still has strong laws on the books (Robinson-Patman Act, Clayton Act, FTC Act); the problem is lack of enforcement.
- Supreme Court has recently narrowed agency powers but leaves conduct remedies (large penalties on violators) available.
- Suggests “making an example” of offenders to deter conduct (e.g., if Delta is using algorithmic wage discrimination).
6. AI and the Next Wave of Hype (53:56–61:10)
- Doctorow is deeply skeptical of AI as the next enshittification frontier:
- Argues AI is mostly capital-destroying hype, not a real business with viable economics.
- Predicts a bubble where only "productive residue" (e.g., cheaper GPUs, open-source models) will remain—akin to fiber optic cable after the dot-com bust.
- The ultimate risk is AI being used to further entrap users, but Doctorow is hopeful its "plugin" nature will ultimately make it more democratized post-bubble.
Notable Quote:
"No one's ever lost as much money as they have on AI. AI is the money losingest proposition in business in the history of the world, right? ... The minute you plug in the GPU, you start losing money."
– Cory Doctorow [54:05]
7. Hope vs. Optimism: The Role of Activism (61:11–63:45)
- Doctorow reflects on his work with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF):
- Advocates for “hope” (active engagement and incremental action) over “optimism” (passive expectation).
- Aims to build a "new good Internet," where users control their experience and can circumvent enshittification.
Notable Quote:
"Hope is the idea that if you materially improve your circumstances, even though you don't know how to get from here to the peak you want to be at, that if you can ascend the gradient just by one step, you can attain a new vantage point."
– Cory Doctorow [61:24]
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
-
On Market Power:
"[Monopsony] is when you have powerful buyers. ... A 20% share as a monopsonist is basically dispositive. It gives you total control." – Cory Doctorow [13:20] -
On Regulatory Capture:
"Regulatory capture is not inevitable. Regulatory capture is what happens when a company is more powerful than the regulator that's supposed to be regulating it." – Cory Doctorow [29:10] -
On Industry Euphemisms:
"When these stock sell offs happen, they panic. And of course, being technical people, they have a euphemism for panicking—a technical term—they call it pivoting." – Cory Doctorow [17:43]
Suggested Timestamps for Important Segments
- Definition & Theory of Enshittification: 04:53
- Facebook Case Study: 09:10–17:39
- Amazon Case Study: 17:59–21:34
- Policy/Regulatory Challenges: 31:18–44:44
- AI and Future of Platform Hype: 53:56–61:10
- Hope and Activism: 61:11–63:45
Overall Tone & Takeaways
The discussion is witty, acerbic, and deeply informed by both Doctorow’s technical expertise and activist perspective. Favreau brings clarity and relatable analogies, while Doctorow provides a compelling, sometimes scathing indictment of platform capitalism and regulatory failures. Ultimately, the message is nuanced but hopeful: structural enshittification is not destiny, and engaged, informed activism can carve alternative futures—even if the fix is neither simple nor quick.
Recommended For:
Anyone who’s ever wondered why the internet seems to be getting worse, how big tech stays so powerful, or what can be done to un-rig digital markets and reclaim user agency.