Imagine, if you will, a pale figure of Death, dressed in a black robe holding a scythe, alongside a handsome, lumberjack-looking Nordic fella who goes by the name Enshittificator. As partners in crime, they conspire to make your life suck, all because they have the power to make digital products and services worse.
If that piques your interest — and maybe sounds too much like real life — a new “anti-enshittification” ad campaign is worth a few minutes of your time.
The term “enshittification” was popularized in 2022 by author and activist Cory Doctorow, and its massive cultural surge earned it a place in Merriam-Webster’s slang hub last year. Enshittification is a deliberate process, designed by companies to maximize profit.
It starts with luring you to a product or service, then making it so good that you become completely dependent on it. The next step is to pull the rug out from under you by hiding basic features behind a paywall, reducing overall quality and squeezing you for every last dime while providing as little value as possible.
The Death and Enshittificator video above, released on YouTube in mid-September, is the second of a series from the Norwegian Consumer Council, an independent, government-funded nonprofit that advocates for consumer rights. The main character, the Enshittificator, is a bearded Nordic man who says in the first video, released in February, that his “job is to make things shitty.”
The initial video concludes with Mr. Enshittificator getting into a car accident because he didn’t pay a subscription for his braking system, a scenario he appeared to find amusing. In the second video, he meets Death in the hospital, and the two enter into a business relationship. (He now dons a yellow hazmat suit to stay alive.)
The duo spends time making every conceivable product worse, from TVs and toothbrushes to smartphone storage. They point out that products with long lifespans, like the famously indestructible Nokia 3310 — which makes a cameo appearance — only generate revenue once. If companies want a profitable business model, however, they have to use low-quality materials, ensure products can’t be fixed and stop issuing updates.
“Look at all the companies that used to make solid products,” the Enshittificator said. “Where are they now?”
“Dead,” Death said, and they share a knowing smile.
The Norwegian Consumer Council’s ads are part of its Breaking Free initiative, a multipronged policy approach to make technology work in favor of consumers, rather than against them. The campaign craftily relies on dark humor to detail how enshittification affects everyday life, from paid subscription models to planned obsolescence, which forces you to buy newer devices.
The videos are also a strikingly accurate commentary on the dismal state of products and gadgets in the digital age. Prices go up while reliability plummets. Companies rely on shady advertising tactics and dodge consumer protection rights.
Doctorow himself collaborated with the nonprofit to help launch the series, which he’s immensely pleased with. In an email to CNET, he said, “The idea that firms’ market power means that they can worsen their offerings with impunity, combined with the minor license to vulgarity of my dirty little word, have proven a winning combination for helping people direct their anger in the right direction.”
Real life (and death)
The enshittification process is relatable and real. In 2020, Apple agreed to pay up to $500 million to settle the landmark “batterygate” class action lawsuit over allegations that it secretly slowed down older iPhone models through software updates. Powerful tech companies have poured massive amounts of money into lobbying against right-to-repair laws, preventing customers from fixing their own devices when they break.
“It’s really important that the products can’t be fixed,” said the Enshittificator. “It breaks, then it dies, so you have to buy a new one. And another one. And another one. And another one. And another one.”
“This way, we’re actually slowly killing the planet as well,” a smiling Death said, helpfully chiming in.
The videos also satirize how digital services slowly degrade over time. In one scene, the Enshittificator tells an employee, “The 1,000 pictures of your deceased mother are mine, and you’re going to pay for them.” It’s a direct nod to Google Photos’ 2021 policy shift, which ended free unlimited storage and capped free accounts at 15GB, requiring users to get a subscription to keep already uploaded photos on the platform.
Another scene takes a jab at automakers who sell you basic functionality as an add-on subscription service.
“I don’t have any more money. You have me in the palm of your hand,” said the Enshittificator in a fake presentation about selling cars. “You can crush me. So what do you do? Updates. Radio? Premium feature. Heating? Premium feature. Now I have a shitty car, and I can’t afford a new one, but what I can afford is a small monthly payment!”
This is a reference to BMW’s controversial microtransaction model, where it tried to make heated seats and other in-car features part of a subscription plan. While intense consumer backlash forced the German automaker to walk back some of the “add-ons,” several features remain behind a paywall. Other brands have followed suit — Hyundai’s BlueLink and Kia Connect require paid plans to use remote start. For a period, both manufacturers even omitted the remote-start button from the physical key fob, completely blocking owners from using the feature for free.
Can it be fixed?
It’s important, though a little depressing, to imagine how much better life would be if companies actually invested money into making their products better, safer and longer-lasting — and not just more profitable for them.
In its Breaking Free: Pathways to a Fair Technological Future report, the Norwegian Consumer Council argues that major tech business models “are often fundamentally incompatible with consumer and human rights.” To dismantle the “walled gardens run by Big Tech feudalists” and end dependence on Big Tech, the nonprofit is pushing for policy reforms built around a three-pronged strategy based on democratic values and principles of openness.
The first is interoperability, which would force platforms to interface with one another. This is already taking shape under the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which required Apple to allow third-party app stores and mandated Meta to support external chats in WhatsApp,
Next comes portability, which would allow users to move their contacts, content, photos and anything else to rival services. A subscriber fed up with Spotify adding AI features, for instance, would be able to switch to YouTube Music or Apple Music without losing their saved playlists, thereby eliminating platform lock-in.
Finally, and arguably the most difficult to implement, is decentralization of social media, which could shift social media away from single-entity corporate control toward open networks like the Fediverse (which powers platforms such as Mastodon). Though still evolving as protocols develop, decentralization enhances interoperability, making cross-network movement frictionless.
Reining in Big Tech remains an uphill battle, but in the meantime, the campaign offers a hilarious — and painfully accurate — look at the modern digital hellscape.
“The true mark of success for a project like this is when other people pick it up and run with it,” Doctorow said.
