“Enshittification,” also known as “platform decay,” is a term used to explain the decay of online platforms through a three-step process that begins with benefiting users, then benefiting customers and finally, benefiting shareholders. The signs of this process are plain for most people to see, and the term is beginning to explain the decay of real world institutions as well.

The first stage, where online platforms focus on user growth and creating products that  “benefit users,” is pretty simple. Think Google or Facebook in the 2000s, when both platforms had generally great products that made life better for their users.

The second stage, which focuses on “benefiting customers,” is when online platforms and businesses shift their priorities from their users to their customers (duh). Again, think about how Google went from a useful search tool in the 2000s to an ad-riddle slop-shop of webpages with 6,000-word recipes that didn’t serve users, but rather advertisers who incentivised Google to bulk up landing pages.

A genuinely stupid/funny failure from HBO, but it's also rather emblematic of the ongoing enshittification of everything: who knows how much money they set on fire paying consultants to change their name every few months, while the actual "product" is treated w/ lazy carelessness https://t.co/CbmSJiMdEv

— Matthew Sitman (@MatthewSitman) December 3, 2025

During this stage, finding a recipe became more cumbersome, as users were deprioritised in a push to increase the number of ads they were served.

Stage three, which is where we currently are, if not past, is when a platform neglects both its users and its customers and instead focuses on driving shareholder wealth. In this stage, using Google again as an example, is best seen through AI cribbing search traffic altogether. After years of following the rules, publishers and their advertisers are now being left out to dry. Instead of clicking on a link to a recipe, the information is provided for you, without ads or webpage impressions.

Which, sure, on one hand, may benefit the user, that is, assuming the information Google’s AI serves is accurate, which, let’s be honest, it isn’t.

enshittification intensifies pic.twitter.com/5jGFziQi1J

— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) November 30, 2025

Sadly, enshittification is no longer only applicable to online platforms. Trump’s tariffs are an example. The tariffs have increased prices for Americans, both buyers and sellers, with zero benefit to either.

The pact citizens (users) had with their government (being able to afford food), and the pact retailers (customers) had in their marketplace (being able to afford to sell food), have been dismantled, for the benefit of shareholders (Trump).