ENSHITTIFICATION
You already know the feeling. The app that used to work, now doesn’t. The platform that once connected you, now surveils you. The internet that promised everything, now delivers misogyny, manipulation, conspiracy and fraud.
Journalist Cory Doctorow has a word for it, and you’ve probably already used it: ‘Enshittification’.
Word of the year across the UK, US and Australia and cited in the Financial Times, ‘enshittification’ is not just a technical glitch or a feeling – it’s a diagnosis of a world that is ever worsening.
It’s a technique that tech giants use to lure users and businesses in. They offer a valuable service with hidden lock-ins, which lets the platforms degrade their services. They then extract value from businesses and users alike, tormenting their captives with impunity. The result? All the digital spaces we rely upon have been transformed into giant piles of (inescapable) shit.
So, what do we do about it? Doctorow isn’t just here to name the rot. He wants to cut it out, question the monopolies, demand regulation, fight for interoperability and our privacy, and win tech workers’ rights. The question is, are we ready for the cure?
Cory Doctorow [CAN/UK]
Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of dozens of books, most recently Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It (nonfiction); and the novel Picks and Shovels. His latest book is The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI, coming in June 2026. Born in Toronto, Canada, he lives in Los Angeles and London.
Kirsten Drysdale
We acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation - the custodians of the country on which we meet - and acknowledge their Elders, past and present.
The views and opinions expressed by the Festival participants are not necessarily the views of The Ethics Centre and our partners.