As seen online:
“This process has a name, coined by Cory Doctorow: “enshittification.” The Enshittification Life Cycle Doctorow’s term describes the predictable, three-stage decay of digital platforms: First, the platform is good to its users. It offers a great, often subsidized, service to attract a large, locked-in user base. Next, the platform abuses its users to serve its business customers. Once users are captive, the platform’s loyalty shifts to the people who pay it. Finally, the platform abuses its business customers to extract all value for itself (shareholders). With everyone locked in, the platform becomes a “pile of shit”—a rent-seeking, inefficient monopoly that no one likes but everyone must use. This is the inevitable trajectory of Google, Amazon, and X. And it is precisely what is happening to the law.”
— from Part X: The Enshittification of Judgment and the Fight for the Lawyer’s Soul as of 10 November 2025