The Prospect Podcast Cory Doctorow: How the internet went to sh*t
Nov 26, 2025
Cory Doctorow, a journalist and tech activist known for his work with the Electronic Frontier Foundation and his book 'Enshittification', discusses why digital platforms deteriorate over time. He highlights how financial incentives lead to user exploitation and the impact of AI on this decline. Cory connects policy choices to the current state of tech, advocating for stricter regulations and community preservation. He also shares insights on the importance of civic engagement and the potential for a more equitable digital future.
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Transcript
Episode notes
LiveJournal, MySpace And Trapped Communities
- LiveJournal and MySpace communities migrated when platforms got bought and abused, and many users escaped to other places.
- But Cory Doctorow notes Facebook trapped communities by importing their old posts, preventing easy migration later.
Maximising Misery As Product Strategy
- Platform owners tune user misery to just below the threshold where people still stay because of social ties.
- Doctorow calls this a deliberate product strategy to maximise ad revenue while retaining social connectivity.
Push For Interoperability And Jailbreaks
- Promote and protect interoperability like third-party app stores and jailbreak tools to create competition.
- Doctorow urges legal and technical measures to enable complementary goods that let users escape monopolies.