Absurdist video urges policymakers and users to resist deliberate deterioration of platforms and devices

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/56890254

The video’s opening shot shows a man hiding under a bed snipping in a hole in someone’s sock. Seconds later, the same man uses a saw to shorten a table leg so that it wobbles during breakfast. “My job is to make things shitty,” the man explains. “The official title is enshittificator. What I do is I take things that are perfectly fine and I make them worse.”

The video, released recently by the Norwegian Consumer Council, is an absurdist take on a serious issue; it is part of a wider, global campaign aimed at fighting back against the “enshittification”, or gradual deterioration, of digital products and services.

“We wanted to show that you wouldn’t accept this in the analogue world,” said Finn Lützow-Holm Myrstad, the council’s director of digital policy. “But this is happening every day in our digital products and services, and we really think it doesn’t need to be that way.”

Coined by author Cory Doctorow, the term enshittification refers to the deliberate degradation of a service or product, particularly in the digital sphere. Examples abound, from social media feeds that have gradually become littered with adverts and scams to software updates that leave phones lagging and chatbots that supplant customer service agents.

  • SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.worldEnglish
    12·
    19 hours ago

    This happens with restaurant franchises. The chain starts usually with the personal attention of the founder. They insist on a level of quality, like Kentucky Fried Chicken. They sell it or die and then the MBAs come in. Hmmm, using these cheaper seasonings could shave a few cents and make us millions more. Bonus! Stock gain! Using lower grade chicken and slightly smaller portions. More savings! Another bonus! Reduce the 10 piece to an 8 piece meal but keep the price. Reduce the seasoning mix to fewer ingredients. Cheaper frying oil. More artificial flavorings. Eventually the quality and amount for the dollar becomes so poor the customers can’t ignore it anymore. They stop going, profits drop. Do they improve the product? Hell no! Cut costs even more. Leave the oil in the fryers longer. Reduce staff. Customers drop off even more.

    Keep cutting, then sell it to someone with “equity” or “capital” in their name to take a loan out against the company. Pocket the loan. Sell the property to another side company and then make the first company pay rent. Let the company die from debt, fire all the employees, leave debts unpaid and sell off what is left.