Blogger, journalist, author and activist Cory Doctorow can embark on a 10-minute monologue about what’s wrong with tech and still leave you hungering for more of his rapid-fire analysis and biting humor. It’s stunning to be presented with the big picture of the mess we’re in — 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 “enshittification.” It’s 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.

Highlights include:

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 “sharecropper in Musk’s farm” 36:05 EFF’s 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 “Radicalized” and take on political violence 59:27 Cory’s book, “Picks and Shovels”

🔎 You can find Cory at @pluralistic@mamot.fr

✚ You can connect with Mike McCue at @mike@flipboard.social

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