Enshittification

Review

I had mixed feelings about this book. I found it very readable and engaging; I particularly enjoyed the specific case studies of certain platforms and their histories; and I see how it's useful to have a book (and especially a term) that elucidates this phenomenon for public dialogue. On the other hand: something about the structure of the book didn't work for me; certain sections felt repetitive; and I really dislike the cover/branding of this book, to the point where I didn't want people to see I was reading it, and I wonder if that will turn away interested readers. I'm happy I read it, and I'm interested in reading more of Doctorow's work.

Enshittification requires more than executives' idle speculation about how they would arrange things if they could force you to go along with them. Enshittification is when the executives calculate that they can force you to go along with their schemes, and when they're right about that.