The Enshittification of the Internet: Policy Failure or Technical Glitch?

Science fiction author Cory Doctorow's PyCon US 2025 keynote explored the 'enshittification' of internet platforms. He attributes this phenomenon to a three-stage strategy employed by tech companies to maximize profits: locking in users, degrading user experience to benefit business customers, and finally, extracting all value from the platform. Using Google as an example, he showed how 'twiddling' algorithms manipulate search results and ad placement, harming user interests. Doctorow argues that 'enshittification' isn't a technical issue, but stems from relaxed antitrust regulation and neglected privacy legislation. He calls for stronger antitrust measures, improved interoperability, enhanced privacy protections, and other steps to reverse this trend and build a 'new good internet'.