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\t\t\tIllustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins \/ Futurism. Source: Macmillan Publishers \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
If it were a \u201cBlack Mirror\u201d episode it would be too on the nose. Renowned tech critic Cory Doctorow\u2019s book \u201cEnshittification<\/a>\u201d hasn\u2019t even been out for a single day, and Amazon is already peddling AI-generated copycats.<\/p>\n One was even listed days prior to the release of the genuine article, suggesting a well-timed effort to rip sales away from the author on the book\u2019s release.<\/p>\n The slop was first flagged by Doctorow himself, who posted a frustrated screenshot of one of the offending knockoffs on X-formerly-Twitter. \u201cLove that the slop merchants are using my book to (further) enshittify Amazon, and that Amazon\u2019s terrible QA standards is letting \u2019em do it,\u201d the author fumed<\/a>.<\/p>\n His screenshot shows a listing for a \u201cself-help\u201d paperback book listed for one dollar less than the kindle version of Doctorow\u2019s. Everything about the knockoff appears to have been hastily copy and pasted from an AI chatbot, with even the title a bloated mess of SEO-buzzwords: \u201cThe Key Understanding You Get from Enshittification Workbook \u2014 How to Execute Cory Doctorow\u2019s Plan for Reclaiming the Internet, Fighting Platform Decay, and Escaping the Digital Trap for Good.\u201d<\/p>\n The product description isn\u2019t much better, exhibiting further signs of a slapdash ChatGPT job<\/a>: \u201cThe Internet Didn\u2019t Just Get Worse \u2014 It Was Engineered to Collapse,\u201d it opens. \u201cYou feel it every time you open an app that used to feel magical but now just feels\u00a0predatory\u2026 This isn\u2019t accidental. It\u2019s\u00a0enshittification\u00a0\u2014 and Cory Doctorow gave it a name because you were never meant to\u00a0see\u00a0it.\u201d<\/p>\n Love that the slop merchants are using my book to (further) enshittify Amazon, and that Amazon’s terrible QA standards is letting ’em do it. pic.twitter.com\/BFPrxWu7ZV<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Cory Doctorow NONCONSENSUAL BLUE TICK (@doctorow) October 6, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n The irony here is that this is a perfect example of the idea of Doctorow\u2019s actual book. He even penned an article in the Guardian<\/a> just days ago, using Amazon as an example of the exact phenomenon he calls \u201censhittification.\u201d<\/p>\n Also known more formally as \u201cplatform decay,\u201d enshittification is a term describing the breakdown of digital platforms like Amazon, Facebook, and Google.<\/p>\n Essentially, it\u2019s the process where companies like Google offer high-quality digital services, gaining huge numbers of users who come to depend on the platform. Once a captive audience is established, those companies begin to court businesses partners at the expense of users, inundating them with more ads, weakening technical capabilities, or throttling services for non-paying customers.<\/p>\n Finally, when a platform has captured both users and businesses, the company behind it begins degrading the experience for both groups, in order to extract maximum profit.<\/p>\n What makes platform decay fascinating is the intent behind it. Meta didn\u2019t become the cesspit of AI boomer slop<\/a> it is today by accident, for example \u2014 these are calculated decisions with billions of dollars riding on them.<\/p>\n The same can be said of Amazon. With a $2.4 trillion global empire<\/a>, there\u2019s no reason Amazon couldn\u2019t clean up its cluttered UI<\/a> and crack down on all the dropshipped junk<\/a> and AI counterfeits that now dominate its useless search feeds<\/a>.<\/p>\n Why don\u2019t they? For that answer, you\u2019ll have to read the book. Just make sure you order the right one.<\/p>\n More on Amazon: Amazon Announces New Spying Initiative for Alexa<\/a><\/p>\n \t