Cory Doctorow reminds us that enshittification isn’t caused by VC.
Critics of zuckermuskian media claim those services are so terrible because they’re for-profit entities, capitalist enterprises hitched to the logic of extraction and profit above all else. The problem with this claim is that it doesn’t explain the changes to these services. […]
At its root, enshittification is a theory about constraints. Companies pursue profit at all costs, but while you may be tempted to focus on the “at all costs” part of that formulation, you musn’t neglect the “profits” part. Companies don’t pursue unprofitable actions at all costs – they only pursue the plans that they judge are likely to yield profits.
When companies face real competitors, then some enshittificatory gambits are unprofitable, because they’ll drive your users to competing platforms.
The essay details how the big tech platforms have locked in users, dismantled competition, avoided regulation, and leverage IP law to prevent third party developers to de-enshittify their products for them.
To stop enshittification, it is not necessary to eliminate the profit motive – it is only necessary to make enshittification unprofitable.
Like all of Doctorow’s work on the phenomena, it’s a great essay. It also contains thoughts on the differences between Mastodon and Bluesky and notes that Bluesky is also on the path of the previous models.
This is why Bluesky is in a dangerous place: not because it is backed by VCs, not because it is a for-profit entity, but because it has captive users and no constraints. It’s a great party in a sealed building with no fire exits
Yet Doctorow notes that we shouldn’t abandon Bluesky because of its proprietary foundation. There are efforts to get some fire escapes into it and bring it into the Fediverse, and he reminds us that many of the open technologies we laud today started behind walled gardens and were freed by various hackitivist efforts.
