The Cost of Enshitification

Cory Doctorow nailed it when he wrote that ‘Customers are not broken, but that the products are’. Customers are patient, then loud or skeptical, and then gone. That is the cycle. Platforms grow by treating users well, then shift value to shareholders, then squeeze everyone until only the shareholder wins. You know it is happening when your product becomes harder to use, more expensive, and less accountable for its decisions.

This is not friction. It is extraction. Junk fees, forced upgrades, AI features no one asked for, support that disappears, and privacy that is optional in name only. People adapt for a while. Then they stop asking nicely.

Ignore them at your own risk.

When companies ignore complaints, hide service levels, and trap users, customers stop playing by the rules. They begin to automate refunds, share workarounds, organize boycotts, support competitors, file lawsuits, and use regulatory levers. A few go further. The widely reported case of Luigi Mangione, accused in the killing of a health-care executive, is a tragic outlier that shows where grievance can metastasize. It is not a model for consumers to follow, but it is a clear warning to those who would ignore consumers.

Companies, you have two choices.

A. Keep pulling the short lever. Ship less, charge more, lock people in. You will get a few more quarters. Then churn spikes, acquisition costs rise, regulators show up, and your best people leave. Your brand becomes a punchline. Your roadmap becomes a compliance plan, or a revenue extraction point for governments that see through the facade.

Or

B. fix it. Ship what you promised. Make the off switch real. Respect consent. Make privacy the default. Let people leave without punishment. You will still make money. You will also keep your customers, and earn defenders when you stumble.

This is not about idealism. It is about risk and trust. Mistrust compounds faster than trust. When enough customers organize their pain, they become a system. Not chaos, a system that will make your indifference very expensive to you, your business and your shareholders.

Enshitification ends when extraction stops. That is the secret. Put value back in. Respect the license. Tell the truth. Mean it when you say “off.” The market will notice, and so will customers.