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   Malte Engeler (malteengeler@legal.social)'s status on Wednesday, 05-Feb-2025 01:08:36 JST Malte Engeler

   in reply to

   Now it seems like the term achieved the opposite though.

   Much like Zuboffs "surveillance capitalism" the term "enshittification" has successfully replaced any structural criticism of capitalism. We are again left with talking about some unwelcome symptoms of (digital) capitalism while - unintentionally - reinforcing the idea that "competition" and "markets" are in fact working and suitable systems of economic organisation.

   It de-radicalized the debate instead of radicalizing it.

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     Malte Engeler (malteengeler@legal.social)'s status on Wednesday, 05-Feb-2025 01:08:37 JST Malte Engeler

     The fact that "enshittification" as a term was successfully popularized in public discourse seemed like a win to me at first. To me it accurately serves as a synonym to "capitalist competition" and "market" (the driving dynamics behind the problems of platforms and digital services).

     It did that and simultaneously offered a new vocabulary that did not immediately alienate liberals, much like "democratizing the economy" replaced "economic planning".

     Matthew Lyon repeated this.