Enshittification
//ɪnˌʃɪ.tɪ.fɪˈkeɪ.ʃən// noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The phenomenon of online platforms gradually degrading the quality of their services, often by promoting advertisements, recurring payments, and sponsored content, in order to increase profits. Internet, neologism, uncountable, vulgar
"Ultimately, it doesn't matter if Amazon's enshittification is because [Jeff] Bezos was a cynic or because he sold out. Once Amazon could make more money by screwing its customers, that screw-job became a fait accompli."
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"Despair! Enshittification is the inevitable evolution of online social platforms, as long as bad financial incentives persist."
Etymology
From en- + shittification (“becoming shitty”). Coined by Canadian-British-American blogger, journalist, and science fiction author Cory Doctorow in 2022 as a designation for a particular phenomenon affecting online platforms.
More for "enshittification"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.