this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2024
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Technology

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Does enshitification happen because companies are publicly-traded? (beehaw.org)
submitted 4 months ago by hedge@beehaw.org to c/technology@beehaw.org
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Isn't that a prerequisite for enshitification? Publicly-traded companies are required (by law, I think) to maximize profits for their shareholders, even if that means utterly ruining their original product (Reddit, Boeing, etc.), yes? What do you think?

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[–] ptz@dubvee.org 75 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (11 children)

I don't think that it's a prerequisite but it's definitely a catalyst.

Another catalyst is one company buying another. I cannot think of one example where the acquired company's product/services got better after a M and A. OTOH, I can think of many examples of it getting worse. Confirmation bias? Absolutely. But still makes you go "hmm..."

[–] itmightbethew@beehaw.org 6 points 4 months ago

I think there can be an intermediary step where things get a little better before they get much worse. I'm thinking of Youtube, which pre acquisiton, iirc, was getting slow and bad. Google infrastructure made it faster, but then, well...

This is really just the first step of enshitification - first they make things good for users, then introduce advertisers, then claw back all the value for themselves.

Or put another way

  • "don't worry you favourite thing will stay the same - we don't want to mess with a winning formula!
  • "these changes will benefit users!"
  • "we have to comply with industry standards and best practices. please read our updated terms of service."
  • "in order to compete in a dynamic marketplace, we're introducing an add supported tier!
  • "we've made changes to our subscription model!"
  • "we've made changes to our subscription model and we're introducing adds on paid tiers! suck it!"
  • "sure, you paid for it, but our agreements are expiring and we don't value you as a human being!"
  • "really, where else are you going to go? lololololol"
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