7 Brutal Truths of Tech Enshittification to Face in 2025
Discover the 7 harsh realities of tech enshittification in 2025. From AI-driven decay to subscription fatigue, here's why your favorite platforms are getting worse.
Elias Vance
Tech analyst and digital strategist focused on platform economics and user-centric design.
7 Brutal Truths of Tech Enshittification to Face in 2025
Let’s be honest. Does it feel like your favorite apps and websites are actively getting worse? Your social feeds are a mess of ads and "suggested" content. Search results feel useless. Every service you once loved is now begging you for a monthly subscription to fix problems it created. You're not imagining it.
There's a name for this phenomenon, coined by writer and activist Cory Doctorow: "Enshittification." It’s a grimly accurate term for the predictable life cycle of digital platforms:
"Here is how platforms die: First, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die."
For years, this process has been simmering in the background. But as we head into 2025, it’s boiling over. The platforms have moved firmly into the final, value-extracting phase, and we—the users—are feeling the heat. It’s time to face some brutal truths about the state of our digital world.
1. AI Is the New Enshittification Engine
Generative AI was sold to us as a creative co-pilot and a revolutionary tool. In 2025, its primary role for many platforms is as a cost-cutting, quality-destroying wrecking ball. AI is the perfect catalyst for enshittification because it allows companies to replace expensive, high-quality human effort with cheap, low-quality automated output at a massive scale.
Think about it. Customer support is now a labyrinth of unhelpful chatbots. Search results are clogged with soulless, AI-generated articles that just rehash the top five results. Social media comments are filled with generic, AI-written praise ("Great post!") designed to game the algorithm. It's a digital sludge, and it’s making it harder to find authentic human connection and information online.
2. The "Premium" Tier Is a Ransom Note
Remember when a subscription got you exciting new features? Now, it mostly just removes the annoyances the platform deliberately introduced. The hottest trend in tech monetization isn't innovation; it's extortion.
Platforms are making the free experience actively hostile to push you toward a monthly payment. X (formerly Twitter) wants you to pay to get better reach and an edit button. YouTube wants you to pay to get rid of an ever-increasing number of ads. Meta is testing ad-free subscriptions in Europe. The message is clear: "We've made this place unbearable. Pay us, and we'll stop." It’s not a value proposition; it's a ransom note for the user experience you used to get for free.
3. Search Is Functionally Broken
Finding genuine information on the open web in 2025 feels like an archaeological dig. For years, Google Search has been degrading, prioritizing ad-laden results and SEO-optimized content farms over quality. Now, with the flood of AI-generated spam, it's reached a breaking point.
Appending "reddit" to your search query used to be a reliable life-hack to find real human opinions. But now, even Reddit is succumbing, with its API changes alienating the communities that made it valuable. Platform-specific search on sites like Amazon is even worse—a minefield of sponsored placements, knock-off products, and algorithmically generated listings. The fundamental promise of search—to find what you're looking for—is broken.
4. Your Data Isn't Enough; They Want Your Wallet, Too
The old bargain of the internet was simple: you get a free service, and in exchange, the platform gets to monetize your data and attention through advertising. It was a Faustian deal, but at least the terms were understood. That deal is off the table.
Platforms have spent a decade building a deep moat around your social graph, your photos, and your professional identity. They have you locked in. Now, they're coming back for more. They already have your data, and in 2025, they're demanding a monthly fee on top of it. It’s the ultimate double-dip, leveraging the hostage situation they've engineered to extract maximum value before the ship sinks.
5. The Creator Economy Is a Squeeze Play
Creators are the unpaid (or underpaid) labor that makes platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram valuable. They build the communities and produce the content that keeps users scrolling. Yet, the platforms treat them as a resource to be squeezed.
In 2025, creator burnout is endemic. Unpredictable algorithm changes can tank a channel's viewership overnight. Monetization policies become stricter and more arbitrary, making it harder to earn a living. The pressure is to create more, faster, for an ever-diminishing slice of the pie. The platform needs the creators to keep the lights on, but its enshittification-driven need for profit forces it to abuse the very people who create its value.
6. You're Trapped in a Digital Ghost Town
Open Facebook. What do you see? Probably a few posts from your aunt, sandwiched between five ads, a suggested reel from an influencer you don't follow, and a post from a group you forgot you joined. The "social" part of social media is disappearing.
While you may still have an account to stay connected to family or for professional networking on LinkedIn, the active experience is hollowing out. Real engagement is replaced by algorithmic filler. You're a resident of a town where most of your friends have stopped coming outside, and the streets are filled with billboards and salespeople. The network effect keeps you there, but the sense of community is gone.
7. The Escape Route Is Real, But It's a Dirt Road
There is a glimmer of hope. Decentralized and federated platforms like Mastodon, Bluesky, and Lemmy offer an alternative—a world without a central corporate entity calling the shots and driving the enshittification cycle. The brutal truth? The escape isn't easy.
These platforms often have a steeper learning curve, smaller user bases, and more complex moderation challenges. Finding your friends and communities takes effort. There's no all-powerful algorithm deciding what you see. This freedom is powerful, but it's not the polished, frictionless experience we've been conditioned to expect. The choice in 2025 is between the comfortable, decaying prison of a mainstream platform or the challenging, constructive work of building a new home on the open web.
The Path Forward Is Awareness
Facing these truths isn't about becoming a tech pessimist. It's about becoming a discerning digital citizen. The enshittification cycle only works when we passively accept it. By understanding the game, we can change how we play.
Support independent creators directly. Pay for services from companies that respect you as a customer, not a product. Be willing to try the "dirt road" alternatives. The more we recognize the decay, the more power we have to abandon the platforms that no longer serve us and, in doing so, create demand for a better, more human-centric internet.