posted by Jason Kottke · gift link
From the Norwegian Consumer Council, a funny video that warns against the dangers of enshittification. It’s part of their Breaking Free initiative:
Digital products and services are steadily becoming worse. Software
becomes increasingly difficult and frustrating to use, websites and apps
are littered with ads and spam content, and useful features are removed,
degraded, or made subscription-only. This is part of a process called
enshittification.Enshittification happens in stages: First a company attracts users by
providing a valuable service, often seemingly for free or at an artificially
low price. The company then exploits those users to draw in business
customers, and finally abuses its business customers and claws back all
the value for itself and its shareholders.Enshittification is the result of a dysfunctional market, where companies
have been able to get away with mistreating and exploiting consumers.
Consumers are trapped in digital services, potential competitors are
shut out, and policymakers and regulators are unable or reluctant to
clamp down on anticompetitive, illegal and otherwise abusive behavior.
In practice, a handful of tech companies have become so powerful that
they do not have reason to fear any consequences.