Blogger, journalist, author and activist Cory Doctorow can embark on a 10-minute monologue about whatâs wrong with tech and still leave you hungering for more of his rapid-fire analysis and biting humor. Itâs stunning to be presented with the big picture of the mess weâre in â and how to potentially get out of it.
In this episode of Dot Social, recorded live at the Fediverse House at SXSW 2025, Doctorow unpacks the concept of âenshittification.â Itâs a term he coined to show how we got to this place where platforms prioritize business interests over user experience, leading to tragic declines in quality and trust. He talks about how to challenge platform monopolies and the importance of true federation.
01:52 The path to enshittification
12:50 Is there a way out of this?
17:18 How Cory uses RSS
22:20 Advice for people building the social web
28:07 Take on Bluesky and Mastodon
33:44 On being a âsharecropper in Muskâs farmâ
36:05 EFFâs biggest mandate this year
39:04 What bad regulations are going away?
40:16 Is enshittification inevitable?
46:27 What happened to change the way that we enforce antitrust?
53:14 âRadicalizedâ and take on political violence
59:27 Coryâs book, âPicks and Shovelsâ
đ You can find Cory at @[email protected]
â You can connect with Mike McCue at @[email protected]
đ Catch the wave! Surf the social web and create your own custom feeds at surf.social, a new beta from the people at Flipboard. https://about.surf.social/