Imagine, if you will, a pale figure of death, dressed in a black cloak, holding a scythe, next to a handsome, lumberjack-looking Nordic man who goes by the name of Enshittificator. As partners in crime, they conspire to screw up your life, all because they have the power to make digital products and services worse.
If that piques your interest — and maybe sounds too much like real life — a new “anti-enshittification” ad campaign is worth a few minutes of your time.
The term “Enshittification” was popularized in 2022 by author and activist Cory Doctorow, and its massive cultural upsurge earned it a spot on Merriam-Webster’s slang hub last year. Enshittification is a deliberate process developed by companies to maximize profits.
It starts by luring you to a product or service, and then makes it so good that you become completely dependent on it. The next step is to pull the rug out from under you by hiding basic features behind a paywall, reducing overall quality and squeezing you for every last dime while providing as little value as possible.
The Death and Enshittificator video above, released on YouTube in mid-September, is the second in a series by the Norwegian Consumer Council, an independent, state-funded nonprofit that advocates for consumer rights. The main character, the Enshittificator, is a bearded Nordic man who says in the first video, released in February, that his “job is to make things embarrassing.”
The first video ends with Mr. Enshittificator getting into a car accident because he didn’t pay a subscription for his brake system, a scenario he found amusing. In the second video, he meets Death in the hospital, and the two enter into a business relationship. (He now wears a yellow hazmat suit to stay alive.)
The duo spends time making every imaginable product worse, from TVs and toothbrushes to smartphone storage. They point out that products with long lifespans, such as the famously indestructible Nokia 3310 – which makes a cameo appearance – generate revenue only once. If the companies want a profitable business model, however, they have to use low quality materials, ensure that the products cannot be fixed and stop updating.
“Look at all the companies that used to make solid products,” Enshittificator said. “Where are they now?”
“Death,” Death said, and they shared a knowing smile.
The Norwegian Consumer Council’s announcements are part of its Breaking Free initiative, a multipronged political approach to making technology work in favor of consumers, rather than against them. The campaign skillfully relies on dark humor to detail how Enshittification affects everyday life, from paid subscription models to planned obsolescence, which forces you to buy new devices.
The videos are also a strikingly accurate commentary on the dismal state of products and gadgets in the digital age. Prices go up while reliability goes down. Companies rely on shady advertising tactics and dodge consumer protection rights.
Doctorow himself partnered with the nonprofit to launch the series, which he is extremely pleased with. In an email to CNET, he said: “The idea that companies’ market power means they can degrade their offerings with impunity, combined with the slight license for vulgarity of my dirty little word, have proven a winning combination to help people direct their anger in the right direction.”
Real life (and death)
The Enshittification process is relatable and real. In 2020, Apple agreed to pay up to $500 million to settle the landmark “Batterygate” class action lawsuit over allegations that it secretly slowed down older iPhone models through software updates. Powerful tech companies have poured massive sums of money into lobbying against right-to-repair laws, preventing customers from fixing their own devices when they break.
“It’s really important that the products can’t be fixed,” Enshittificator said. “It breaks, then it dies, so you have to buy a new one. And another one. And another one. And another one. And another one.”
“In this way we are also killing the planet little by little,” said a smiling death, helpfully shouting.
The videos also satirize how digital services gradually degrade over time. In one scene, the enshittificator tells an employee, “The 1,000 pictures of your dead mother are mine, and you will pay for them.” It’s a direct nod to Google Photos’ 2021 policy shift, which ended free unlimited storage and ended free accounts at 15GB, requiring users to get a subscription to keep already uploaded photos on the platform.
Another scene takes automakers selling you basic functionality as an add-on subscription service.
“I have no more money. You have me in the palm of your hand,” said Enshittificator in a fake presentation about selling cars. “You can break me. So what do you do? Updates. Radio? Premium feature. Heating? Premium feature. Now I have a crappy car, and I can’t afford a new one, but what I can afford is a small monthly payment!”
This is a reference to BMW’s controversial microtransaction model, where it tried to make heated seats and other car features part of a subscription plan. While intensive consumer protection has forced the German automaker to return some of the “add-ons”, certain functions remain behind a paywall. Other brands have followed suit – Hyundai’s BlueLink and Kia Connect require paid plans to use remote start. For a period, both manufacturers even removed the remote start button from the physical key fob, completely blocking owners from using the feature for free.
Can it be fixed?
It’s important, if a little depressing, to imagine how much better life would be if companies actually invested money into making their products better, safer, and longer lasting—and not just more profitable for them.
In its Breaking Free: Pathways to a Fair Technological Future report, the Norwegian Consumer Council argues that big tech business models “are often fundamentally incompatible with consumers and human rights.” To dismantle the “walled gardens run by Big Tech feudalists” and end the dependence on Big Tech, the non-profit pushes for policy reforms built around a three-tiered strategy based on democratic values and principles of openness.
The first is interoperability, which forces platforms to interface with each other. This is already taking shape under the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which required Apple to allow third-party app stores and mandated Meta to support external chats and WhatsApp,
Next comes portability, which allows users to move their contacts, content, photos and everything else to rival services. A subscriber tired of Spotify adding AI features, for example, could switch to YouTube Music or Apple Music without losing their saved playlists, thereby eliminating platform lock-in.
Finally, and probably the most difficult to implement, is the decentralization of social media, which shifts social media from single-entity corporate control to open networks like the Fediverse (the platforms like Mastodon). Although still evolving as protocols develop, decentralization improves interoperability, making cross-network movement frictionless.
Reining in big tech remains an uphill battle, but in the meantime, the campaign offers a funny – and painfully accurate – look at the modern digital hellscape.
“The real sign of success for a project like this is when other people pick it up and run with it,” Doctorow said.
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