Cory Doctorow criticizes Amazon for its decline, a trend he refers to as “enshittification.” He claims that the company now prioritizes profits over user experience, leading to lower quality goods and manipulative practices.
Amazon’s Decline and Enshittification
Cory Doctorow, a well-known tech critic, describes Amazon’s decline through a process he calls “enshittification,” where the company shifts focus from user experience to maximizing profits. This has led to a cluttered platform filled with low-quality, AI-generated ads, knockoff products, and manipulative practices that frustrate both consumers and sellers. Originally a user-friendly site offering low prices and convenience, Amazon’s experience now suffers from deceptive ads and poor product quality.[1][2]
Amazon’s Early Growth and Market Control
Amazon initially grew by aggressively subsidizing prices to lock in users and sellers, providing unbeatable deals and seamless service. Over time, as its market dominance solidified, Amazon began squeezing suppliers, favoring paid advertising placements, resulting in search results saturated with sponsored and knockoff goods. This transition undermines genuine product discovery and hurts honest sellers.[1]
Antitrust Violations and FTC Settlement
Amazon’s antitrust issues involve predatory pricing to undercut competitors while later raising fees and enforcing “most favored nation” clauses that prevent sellers from offering better deals on other platforms. This creates a near-impossible monopoly that deters competition and innovation. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) highlighted these concerns in its lawsuit resulting in a historic $2.5 billion settlement in 2025 over deceptive user interface designs (“dark patterns”) that misled consumers into Prime memberships and complicated cancellations. This settlement includes a $1 billion civil penalty and $1.5 billion in consumer refunds, affecting 35 million customers.[3][4][5][6][1]
Labor Practices and Ethical Criticism
Amazon faces ongoing criticism over harsh labor conditions, union-busting, wage theft, and precarious gig work such as through Amazon Flex. Investigations reveal exploitative labor practices with unsafe work speeds, wage violations, and unpredictable schedules. Despite making billions in profits, Amazon’s internal labor issues contribute to service and product quality deterioration.[7][8][9][1]
Challenges Facing Third-Party Sellers
Third-party sellers contend with rising fees, stricter enforcement of policy compliance, and rampant counterfeit and hijacked listings. Automated and AI-driven enforcement often penalizes sellers without clear explanations, making recovery difficult. Sellers face high storage and fulfillment costs, limiting profitability and market competition.[10][11][12]
Market Control and Planned Economy
Doctorow warns Amazon has turned markets into “planned economies” by controlling data, logistics, and seller access, dictating unfavorable terms that benefit itself while stifling competition. This control extends to search algorithms biased towards Amazon’s products and costly fees that can consume up to 50% of sellers’ revenues.[4][13][1]
Path Forward: Regulation and Fair Competition
To counter these issues, Doctorow advocates banning anti-competitive clauses such as “most favored nation” terms and enforcing stronger antitrust measures to restore competition. Regulatory intervention should require clearer user consent processes, fair advertising policies, and improved labor protections. Without this, Amazon risks further erosion of trust and market value.[14][5][4][1]
Broader Implications for Tech Industry
Doctorow’s broader theory of enshittification applies across tech platforms, reflecting a trend where companies prioritize short-term profit over sustainable user experience. This warns of a degrading digital ecosystem unless there is a balance between growth and consumer welfare.[15][2][1]
