2 months, 3 weeks ago

There’s a reason why it feels like the internet has gone bad

A version of this story appeared in CNN Business’ Nightcap newsletter. The Australian dictionary Macquarie even crowned it the 2024 word of the year, noting its power to capture “what many of us feel is happening to the world and to so many aspects of our lives at the moment.” On Tuesday, shortly after Meta’s CEO announced a widely criticized plan to dispense with fact-checkers, I spoke with Doctorow about the future of social media and how “enshittification” can help us make sense of our collective online angst. Doctorow: Facebook at a certain point goes to publishers and says, create a Facebook page, post short excerpts to it, don’t worry about how many people follow you — we’re going to recommend it to users. And that’s as far as I think a lot of people take it — “Facebook’s got a mind control ray, they’re hacking your dopamine loops, and you can’t escape Facebook and they’re gonna sell you to advertisers.” The evidence for “hacking your dopamine loops” is pretty thin. I’m not shorting Meta stock, but I think that they are on the path to becoming a kind of zombie — something like MySpace is today.

CNN
Value Meta Advertisers Nightcap Monopolies Zuck Myspace Users Getting Enshittification Facebook
Opinion | Playing monopoly in the digital age
4 years, 7 months ago

Opinion | Playing monopoly in the digital age

Live Mint
India
Opinion | Playing monopoly in the digital age
4 years, 7 months ago

Opinion | Playing monopoly in the digital age

Live Mint
India

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