- Enshittification, also called *platform decay*, is the process of monopolistic platforms degrading over time. It looks like: 1. **Be good to consumers** to build as large a user base as possible, forcing suppliers to use the platform, because that's where their customers are. 2. **Be good to suppliers** by getting as many eyes on their product or publication as possible, so that they put all of their advertising eggs into your platform's basked. 3. **Be good to shareholders** (and the platform itself) once everyone sees you as the only option, by abusing suppliers and only pushing to users what is beneficial for the *platform* for them to see. - We’ve seen this happen with Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and so on; it is the natural progression of monopolistic platforms. - [[2023-06-12]] A [mass protest is happening on Reddit today](https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/reddit-private-subreddit-blackout-protest-message-rcna88457) where major subreddits are going private to protest the platform's plan to charge third-party apps for their API. Per [CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/01/reddit-eyeing-ipo-charge-millions-in-fees-for-third-party-api-access.html): > The company, which first disclosed plans for an IPO in late 2021, is asking developers to pay $12,000 per every 50 million requests, according to a post from the creator of a popular third-party app called Apollo. The developer said the number was “deeply” disappointing. > “Apollo made 7 billion requests last month, which would put it at about 1.7 million dollars per month, or 20 million US dollars per year,” the developer said in a Reddit post about the change. - Over the past week, I've seen the term "enshittification" used to describe what Reddit's doing, although, ironically, I can't find any instances of that because so many subs are private 🙃 There is [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/enshittification/comments/140d3ba/the_enshittification_of_reddit_is_upon_us/) written by the developer of the Apollo App that mentions it. There is also apparently [r/enshittification](https://www.reddit.com/r/Enshittification), but it only has a cross-post of what's already linked above.