I mean there’s Reddit ofc, as well as Twitter in its entirety, Discord is implementing some dumb updates, there are issues with Tumblr as well as everything to do with Meta, and I’m sure there are plenty more (and I haven’t even touched other digital media, for example the Sims). Why is it all happening in the span of about a couple months?
A lot of them go into business with venture capital, a great idea with future potential, but no idea how to monetize any of it.
Eventually the capital is starting to dry up and the owners will want return on their investments - so the company is forced to start turning profit. Enshittification of service at all costs follows. And then perhaps public IPO and the founders cashing out and buying yachts.
That’s the lifecycle of a tech-startup
The other element to this is the lack of competition. Since companies funded this way don’t need to turn a profit for a long time, they can very easily kill their competitors who do need to be profitable to survive.
So when the time comes for the company to turn a profit, there are few if any competitors left to put pressure on them, giving them the power to do what they want, and leaving consumers with no other options.
And now the interest rates are up and money tight. All non-profitable companies suddenly need profits. Boom.
Our startup making business services and actually selling them… Getting any funding now is such a grind.
I really think VC is to blame for a lot of it. Although not in Twitter’s case… And I assume meta is backed by a VC (although they might be).
In the end it comes down to these investors wanting a return on their investment and those in charge of the VC usually go one of two route: