Australia’s Macquarie Dictionary has selected enshittification as its word of 2024, defining it as the gradual decline in the quality of a service or product, particularly online platforms, driven by profit-seeking.

The term reflects widespread dissatisfaction with the digital world, where services initially cater to users but later prioritise business customers, ultimately exploiting both.

Coined by Canadian-British author Cory Doctorow in a 2022 essay, enshittification describes the life cycle of digital platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Doctorow argues that platforms first prioritise users, then shift focus to advertisers, before finally extracting maximum value for themselves, leading to their deterioration.

The judging committee noted the term resonated with current frustrations and beat out other contenders like looksmaxxing (enhancing one’s appearance), overtourism, and sigma (a popular social archetype). Honourable mentions included right to disconnect (the legal right to ignore work communications after hours) and rawdogging (long-haul flying without entertainment).

Macquarie, regarded as a key authority on Australian English, annually selects a word that captures cultural trends. Last year’s winner was cozzie livs, a slang term for “cost of living.” Meanwhile, the UK’s Oxford Dictionary is running a public vote on its own shortlist, including brain rot and dynamic pricing.

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