Enshittification : Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About it – Cory Doctorow

Enshittification : Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About it – Cory Doctorow A sharp critique of the digital infrastructures that increasingly shape how we live, work, and participate in public life In Enshittification, leading technology critic and author of The Internet Con, Cory Doctorow examines the forces behind the steady decline of many of the digital platforms that underpin everyday life. Far from being a technical failure, "enshittification" describes a deliberate process through which platforms attract users, draw in businesses, and ultimately prioritise profit at the expense of both. From social media networks to online marketplaces, services that once promised openness and connection have become increasingly restrictive, extractive, and difficult to navigate. For readers interested in architecture, urbanism, and the politics of infrastructure, Doctorow's analysis offers valuable insights into the design of contemporary digital environments and the monopolistic systems that govern them. Drawing parallels between online platforms and the privatisation of public space, he argues for greater accountability, stronger regulation, interoperability, workers' rights, and a renewed commitment to the commons. Both diagnosis and call to action, Enshittification invites us to reconsider how the infrastructures that organise modern life might be redesigned in the public interest. Author: Cory Doctorow Publisher: Verso Books Format: Paperback Pages:352 ISBN: 9781836743750 Publication date: September 2026