Consumer Rights Wiki - User contributions [en]

Enshittification

2025-08-16T22:37:26Z

2604:3D08:2C8B:8800:3CD9:8BD7:48E4:280F: added missing comma

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'''Enshittification''', also known as '''crapification''' and '''platform decay''', is a pattern in which two-sided online products, usually subscription services, decline in quality over time. Initially, companies create high-quality offerings to attract users and undercut competition, then they degrade those offerings to better serve business customers, and finally degrade their services to users and business customers to maximize profits for shareholders.

The term was first coined by tech blogger Cory Doctorow in November 2022 and has since gained widespread recognition.

==How it works==
<blockquote>''"It is a seemingly inevitable consequence arising from the combination of the ease of changing how a platform allocates value, combined with the nature of a "two-sided market," where a platform sits between buyers and sellers, hold each hostage to the other, raking off an ever-larger share of the value that passes between them."'' - Cory Doctorow, ''Wired,'' 2023</blockquote>Enshittification at its core is a three-stage process.

===Stage 1 - Incentivizing Mass Adoption===
Companies offer their product or service to users with great incentive to try and build an established userbase. It is usually during the early stage of the company is the most focused on providing a positive user experience and listening to feedback.

For example, [[Uber]] was initially well-received for offering competitive prices for transportation, leading to a large userbase adopting the platform.

===Stage 2 - Catering to Business Clients===
Once a stable userbase is locked in, companies begin offering access to the userbase to business customers with great incentive. This stage is usually when the user experience begins to decline as the company is now more focused on catering to partners such as suppliers and advertisers.

For example, in 2023, Reddit removed free access to their API nearing the time of its IPO.<ref name="TheVergeAnnouncement">{{Cite web |last=Shakir |first=Umar |date=April 18, 2023 |title=Reddit's upcoming API changes will make AI companies pony up |url=https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/18/23688463/reddit-developer-api-terms-change-monetization-ai |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230614020642/https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/18/23688463/reddit-developer-api-terms-change-monetization-ai |archive-date=June 14, 2023 |access-date=June 17, 2023 |work=[[The Verge]]}}</ref> Then, in 2024, Reddit struck a $60M deal with Google to give access to its user-generated content for AI training data.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Tong |first=Anna |last2=Wang |first2=Echo |last3=Coulter |first3=Martin |last4=Tong |first4=Anna |last5=Wang |first5=Echo |date=2024-02-22 |title=Exclusive: Reddit in AI content licensing deal with Google |url=https://www.reuters.com/technology/reddit-ai-content-licensing-deal-with-google-sources-say-2024-02-22/ |access-date=2025-06-20 |work=Reuters |language=en}}</ref>

===Stage 3 - Quality Degradation for Shareholders===
When both users and business partners are locked in, the company shifts its surpluses to the shareholders. It no longer has any incentive to grow or maintain quality for either of its customer bases and relentlessly seeks profit at any rate for the shareholders. Companies at this stage also tend to have such a large market presence that switching barriers naturally (or intentionally) fall into place for those trying to leave for alternatives.

An ongoing example is [[YouTube]]'s [[YouTube#Crackdown against ad-blockers|crackdown on users using ad-blockers]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=YouTube intensifies crackdown on ad blockers {{!}} AdGuard |url=https://adguard.com/en/blog/youtube-new-banner-adblockers-violate-tos.html |access-date=2025-06-20 |website=AdGuard Blog |language=en}}</ref> While such a crackdown might reduce ad-blocker usage and increase short-term shareholder returns, it degrades the experience for users and reduces the quality of impressions for advertisers. Over 30% of the world's population uses YouTube, with a ~98% market share in online video media.<ref>{{Cite web |title=YouTube - Market Share, Competitor Insights in Media Players And Streaming Platforms |url=https://www.6sense.com/tech/media-players-and-streaming-platforms/youtube-market-share |access-date=2025-06-20 |website=6sense}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=23 Essential YouTube Statistics You Need to Know in 2025 |url=https://thesocialshepherd.com/blog/youtube-statistics |access-date=2025-06-20 |website=The Social Shepherd |language=en}}</ref>

==Why it is a problem==

===Erosion of user experiences===
It can cause frustration among customers, for example Netflix has started locking down movies behind expensive plans, so customers are frustrated into subscribing to a more expensive plan.

Enshittification can also lead to [[wikipedia:Feature creep|feature creep]] - especially when new features of a product are intended to further lock in users and increase revenue. This creep can lead to an overall reduction in performance due to bloat and increased complexity, reducing a product's usability. A prime example of feature creep caused in large part by late-stage enshittification is Microsoft Windows.

===Switching barriers===
Enshittified platforms that act as intermediaries can act as both a monopoly on services and a monopsony on customers, as high switching barriers prevent either from leaving even when better alternatives technically exist. These barriers can be intentionally put in place - such as restricting the user's ability to transfer data or communicate between platforms - or unintentional, such as a platform's userbase being so large that it naturally makes it near impossible for users or partners to find equivalent engagement on an alternative platform.

An example of this would be a long-time eBay seller hoping to leave the site for an alternative with lower fees (possibly Mercari or Etsy). They might first encounter issues migrating all of their listings over to the new platform; a process which could be tedious. Their feedback history will certainly not carry over to the new platform so buyers are initially less likely to view them as trustworthy, potentially impacting sales. Lastly, the alternative platform likely has a vastly smaller userbase than eBay so despite all the possible benefits - the seller is less likely to be successful on the new platform than they are on eBay.

Such switching barriers can create an adversarial relationship between platform users or business partners and the company they're dependent on. The users or partners cannot be successful without access to the wide reach of the platform - but it leaves them wholly dependent on a company that no longer has their best interests in mind.

===Platform death===
A potential end-scenario for enshittified platforms is death, usually caused by a large enough exodus of users and business partners, and a general loss of trust. A platform may not truly "die" per se, but it can completely lose the identity that made it successful in the first place - and might not ever regain it. An ongoing example is [[X Corp|Twitter]] post Elon Musk's takeover. Under its new ownership and branding, the platform drove away swathes of its userbase and advertisers to alternative platforms (such as Bluesky) after its policy shifts proved widely unpopular.

However, the death of an enshittified platform is not an entirely positive end result. It uproots a long established userbase and can greatly disrupt their activities. There is also the chance that alternative platforms lack feature parity with the old platform or that it might not even be able to support the massive influx of new users - at least for some amount of time. At worst, data loss could be involved meaning years worth of information - if not archived beforehand - could potentially be lost if a platform shuts down in some capacity.

==Possible solutions==

===End-to-end principal===
...

===Right of exit===
...

===Public backlash===
...

===Alternative platforms===
...

==Examples==
===E-commerce===
In Doctorow's original post, he discussed the practices of Amazon. The online retailer initially drew in users with products sold below cost and free shipping. Once its userbase was well established, more sellers began to sell their products through Amazon. Finally, Amazon began to add fees to increase profits. In 2023, over 45% of the sale price of items went to Amazon in the form of various fees. Amazon also allows sellers the ability to push their listing higher in search results via its paid Sponsored Products program. Doctorow described advertisement within Amazon as a payola scheme in which sellers bid against one another for search-ranking preference, and said that the first five pages of a search for "cat beds" were half advertisements

eBay is another e-commerce site that followed a similar trajectory, initially offering low fees and a robust buying/selling protection system. Once its userbase of largely secondhand buyers and sellers was solidified, eBay raised seller fees and began incentivizing large volume sellers - often actual businesses - with lower selling fees should they subscribe to eBay Store. eBay sellers are also no longer able to leave negative feedback for buyers, greatly reducing the ability of sellers to avoid bad actors. Since then, eBay has introduced promoted listings that are effectively analogous to Amazon's paid sponsored listing system. eBay has also encouraged sellers to use AI generated descriptions that often misrepresent the condition of items being sold, along with opting all of its users into in-house AI training [[Ebay AI opt in by default|by default]] as of its April 21, 2025 privacy policy revision.

===Media streaming platforms===
The enshittification of Netflix is similarly reflected in other streaming platforms such as YouTube TV and Amazon Prime Video, where prices have increased despite a decline (or at least no perceivable improvement) in overall service quality.

===Search engines===
Google started as an ad-free search engine, but over time more paid insertions have been included on the top of the search without a clear and visible distinction between ads and actual legitimate results. In 2024, Google started rolling out AI Overview, but the roll-out was rushed. The AI Overview showed inaccurate, potentially dangerous overviews, such as encouraging eating rocks, suggesting putting glue on top of pizza as a solution to cheese sliding off, encouraging smoking during pregnancy, encouraging suicide and suggesting users to jump off the golden gate bridge.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Goodwin |first=Danny |date=24 May 2024 |title=Google AI Overviews under fire for giving dangerous and wrong answers |url=https://searchengineland.com/google-ai-overview-fails-442575 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250623180113/https://searchengineland.com/google-ai-overview-fails-442575 |archive-date=23 Jun 2025 |access-date=21 Jul 2025 |work=Search Engine Land}}</ref> Google has responded to those issues and temporarily disabled the AI overview. While those incidents have been fixed and the AI Overview has been made available again, the AI overview still shows inaccurate results, often citing satire comments as factual sources, or making stuff up. The AI overview has also been criticized for reducing traffic towards genuine sites, where instead of visiting sites to get the information, the information is displayed on top, where people don't have to visit sites to get the information they were looking for, and is also a cause of privacy concerns.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Perez |first=Sarah |date=15 Jul 2025 |title=Google Discover adds AI summaries, threatening publishers with further traffic declines |url=https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/15/google-discover-adds-ai-summaries-threatening-publishers-with-further-traffic-declines/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250718124612/https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/15/google-discover-adds-ai-summaries-threatening-publishers-with-further-traffic-declines/ |archive-date=18 Jul 2025 |access-date=21 Jul 2025 |work=TechCrunch}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Bellan |first=Rebecca |date=10 Jun 2025 |title=Google’s AI search features are killing traffic to publishers |url=https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/10/googles-ai-overviews-are-killing-traffic-for-publishers/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250714040741/https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/10/googles-ai-overviews-are-killing-traffic-for-publishers/ |archive-date=14 Jul 2025 |access-date=21 Jul 2025 |work=TechCrunch}}</ref>

===Social media===
Facebook...

Instagram...

Twitter/X...

TikTok...

YouTube...

===Software===
Adobe...

Windows...

===Video Games===
Unity...

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Common terms]]

Elgato forces Stream Deck users to sign up

2025-08-16T22:35:04Z

2604:3D08:2C8B:8800:3CD9:8BD7:48E4:280F: Changed wording of lead section for grammar and clarity

{{StubNotice}}

Elgato has removed the option to download or update plugins from their marketplace for their product, Stream Deck, without an Elgato account. Following this change, Stream Deck users must have an account to add content to their device this way.
==Background==
{{Placeholder box|Information about the product/service history to provide the necessary context surrounding the incident}}
Until [https://www.elgato.com/us/en/s/downloads Stream deck software] version 6.4, user could install any plugins without account. With 6.4 update plugin installation process changed. Company provides instructions for that on their [https://help.elgato.com/hc/en-us/articles/11434818801293-Elgato-Stream-Deck-How-to-Install-and-Uninstall-Stream-Deck-Plugins support side].
==[Incident]==
{{Placeholder box|Change this section's title to be descriptive of the incident.

Impartial and complete description of the events, including actions taken by the company, and the timeline of the incident coming to the public's attention.}}

===Elgato's response===
{{Placeholder box|If applicable, add the proposed solution to the issues by the company.}}

They allow for plugin side-load. It's inconvenient and sometimes impossible to do. In order to do so, developer has to release plugin via different channel than marketplace, e.g. GitHub.
==Lawsuit==
{{Placeholder box|If applicable, add any information regarding litigation around the incident here.

===Claims===
Main claims of the suit.

===Rebuttal===
The response of the company or counterclaims.

===Outcome===
The outcome of the suit, if any.}}

==Consumer response==
{{Placeholder box|Summary and key issues of prevailing sentiment from the consumers and commentators that can be documented via articles, emails to support, reviews and forum posts.}}

==References==
{{reflist}}https://marketplace.elgato.com/learn/announcements/stream-deck-marketplace-questions-answered

https://www.reddit.com/r/elgato/comments/17mqcda/updating_plugins_on_stream_deck_64_without_an/<nowiki/>{{Placeholder box|[[mw:Help:VisualEditor/User_guide#Editing_categories|Add a category]] with the same name as the product, service, website, software, product line or company that this article is about.

The "Incidents" category is not needed.}}

AirPods

2025-08-16T22:20:12Z

2604:3D08:2C8B:8800:3CD9:8BD7:48E4:280F: Added missing period

{{StubNotice}}{{InfoboxProductLine
| Title = AirPods
| Release Year = 2016-12-13
| Product Type = Wireless earbuds
| In Production = Yes
| Official Website = https://apple.com/airpods
| Logo = AirPods logo.png
}}AirPods are wireless earbuds designed by [[Apple]]. They first debuted on September 07, 2016, alongside the iPhone 7, and were released on December 13, 2016.

In addition to playing audio, the AirPods contain a microphone that filters out background noise as well as built-in accelerometers and optical sensors capable of detecting taps and pinches (e.g. double-tap or pinch to pause audio) and placement within the ear, which enables automatic pausing of audio when they are taken out of the ear.

On March 20, 2019, Apple released the second-generation AirPods, which feature the H1 chip, longer talk time, and hands-free "Hey Siri" support. A higher-end version includes a charging case that supports Qi charging.

On October 26, 2021, Apple released the third-generation AirPods, which feature an external redesign with shorter stems similar to AirPods Pro, spatial audio, IPX4 water resistance, longer battery life, and MagSafe charging capability.

On September 9, 2024, Apple announced the AirPods 4, which feature the H2 chip, Bluetooth 5.3, and a USB-C charging case. A higher end model features active noise cancellation and a charging case that supports Qi and Apple Watch chargers.
==Consumer impact summary==
AirPods are designed to be unrepairable even by Apple, leading to them ending up as e-waste after a few years of use. The replacement of the lithium-ion batteries used by the AirPods requires the destruction of the outer casing, adding to the waste problem. Up until September 22, 2023, Apple used their proprietary Lightning connector on the AirPods' charging case.

The lithium-ion batteries in AirPods can see significant degradation over time, with two-year-old sets lasting for less than half of the advertised five hours. Apple has a program to service batteries and purchase replacement individual AirPods and charging cases. The replacement of one or both AirPods or the charging case has a lower price with AppleCare+ than without. Apple offers battery servicing for free with AppleCare+ and for a fee without. However, this is just a replacement service, as AirPods cannot be repaired without destroying their outer case, resulting in a 0/10 repairability score.
{{Placeholder box|Overview of concerns that arise from the conduct towards users of products part of the product line.

Touch on relevant topics like:
* User Freedom
* User Privacy
* Business Model
* Market Control}}

==Incidents==
This is a list of all consumer protection incidents related to this product line. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the [[:Category:{{PAGENAME}}|{{PAGENAME}} category]].
{{Placeholder box|Replace the placeholder text in the sections below with the incidents that affect this product line and a short summary. Also replace the link so it point to the right company article.}}

===Example incident one (''date'')===
{{Main|link to the main article}}Short summary of the incident (could be the same as the summary preceding the article).

===Example incident two (''date'')===
...

Incidents affecting all of the company's products can be found in the company article: [[Company article]]

==Products==

*AirPods (1st generation) (December 13, 2016<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2 March 2025 |title=Every Apple AirPods Generation: A Full History of Release Dates - IGN |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/all-apple-airpods-release-dates-in-order |website=IGN}}</ref>)
*AirPods (2nd generation) (March 20, 2019<ref name=":0" />)
*AirPods Pro (1st generation) (October 30, 2019<ref name=":0" />)
*AirPods Max (December 15, 2020<ref name=":0" />)
*AirPods (3rd generation) (October 26, 2021<ref name=":0" />)
*AirPods Pro 2 (previously 2nd generation) (September 23, 2022<ref name=":0" />)
*AirPods 4/ANC (September 20, 2024<ref name=":0" />)
==See also==
{{Placeholder box|Link to relevant theme articles or product lines with similar incidents.}}

*[[Apple]]

==References==
<references />
[[Category:Airpods]]