Context:

A darkly humorous anti-enshittification campaign, spearheaded by Cory Doctorow with the Norwegian Consumer Council, imagines Death teaming with a bearded Enshittificator to illustrate how digital products are intentionally degraded for profit. The ads depict a world where initial value gives way to paywalls, planned obsolescence, and creeping subscriptions across devices and services. They frame enshittification as a real, systemic issue driving higher prices and lower reliability, while linking it to broader tech-lobbying and anti-repair efforts. The campaign calls for reforms around interoperability, portability, and decentralization to empower consumers and reduce Big Tech dependence. It positions the effort as both a reflection of current trends and a roadmap for future policy change.

Dive Deeper:

• The Norwegian Consumer Council released a two-part, darkly humorous video campaign featuring Death and the Enshittificator, a Nordic character, to critique how digital products are made worse over time for profit. The series follows the Enshittificator as he partners with Death to degrade a wide range of products, highlighting the shift from feature-rich offerings to paid-subscription models and reduced longevity.

• The campaign builds on the council’s Breaking Free initiative, which promotes consumer-centric policy changes. It argues that major tech business models often conflict with consumer and human rights, using satire to demonstrate real-world consequences like higher prices and reduced product reliability.

• Several scenes reference notable practices, including planned obsolescence, non-fixable devices, and data-driven paywalls – such as a nod to the shift away from unlimited Google Photos storage and the push for subscription-driven access to memories.

• The piece ties these trends to broader industry conduct, citing past cases like Apple’s batterygate settlement and the expansion of paid features in cars and home devices. It emphasizes how such tactics erode consumer protections and fuel environmental harm through shorter product lifespans.

• Policy recommendations center on interoperability (EU Digital Markets Act-aligned ideas), portability (moving data between services without losing content), and decentralization (open networks like the Fediverse) to reduce platform lock-in and empower user choice.

• Cory Doctorow frames the project as a test of whether others will adopt the concept, suggesting the campaign’s ultimate success lies in its ability to spur wider adoption and policy experimentation across markets.