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The Maybe @themaybe.org · 1d

Listen to the episode: www.themaybe.org/podcast/gotc...

Buy Enshittifcation now: www.versobooks.com/products/334...

www.themaybe.org

The Maybe @themaybe.org · 1d

6/7

Cory explains enshittification with some fantastic (if darkly funny) examples and walks us through what can be done: from shifting how we think about platforms entirely, to focusing on things like data portability instead of endlessly trying to moderate content after the fact.

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The Maybe @themaybe.org · 1d

5/7

Step 3: Then it turns on the businesses, too — charging them to reach the audiences it originally attracted on their behalf, and squeezing everyone to maximize its own profit.

Eventually, everyone is stuck in a system that no longer works for them, but is too big to fail.

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The Maybe @themaybe.org · 1d

4/7

Step 2: It starts to sacrifice users to serve business customers. Your feed fills with ads and algorithmic sludge instead of your friends or creators you follow.

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The Maybe @themaybe.org · 1d

3/7

Step 1: The platform is good to its users. It offers a useful service (often at a loss) to attract a large, locked-in audience.

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The Maybe @themaybe.org · 1d

2/7

In the final episode of Gotcha! — our series on scams and the tech that fuels them — Cory breaks down the enshittification playbook and explains how platforms decay by design.

1

The Maybe @themaybe.org · 1d

1/7

Why do all the platforms we love eventually become terrible?

There's a name for this all-too-predictable decline, coined by our guest this week, writer and activist Cory Doctorow (@pluralistic.net.web.brid.gy): enshittification.

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The Maybe @themaybe.org · 7d

6/6
And read the Alice and Lana's @datasociety.bsky.social primer mapping what we know about generative AI’s role in scams, the communities most at risk, and the broader economic and cultural shifts at play.
datasociety.net/library/scam...

ScamGPT: GenAI and the Automation of Fraud

This collaboration between Lana Swartz, Alice E. Marwick, and Kate Larson maps generative AI's role in scams, the communities most at risk, and the broader economic and cultural shifts at play.

datasociety.net

The Maybe @themaybe.org · 7d

5/6
It's a conversation that pulls back the curtain on the surprisingly human—and deeply exploited—workforce behind the scam texts we all get every day. Listen here: www.themaybe.org/podcast/gotc...

The Maybe

www.themaybe.org

1

The Maybe @themaybe.org · 7d

4/6
While the media focuses on exotic threats like deepfake ransom calls, the more immediate danger is AI making existing, low-level scams more efficient and persuasive.

1

The Maybe @themaybe.org · 7d

3/6
They unpack the grim, industrial reality: massive scam farms where trafficked workers run repetitive scripts. AI supercharges these farms by automating the drudgery: generating persuasive texts, translating scripts, and spinning up fake profiles at scale.

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The Maybe @themaybe.org · 7d

2/6
In the third episode of Gotcha!, our mini-series on scams, @alixdunn.com talks with @lanalanalana.bsky.social and @alicetiara.bsky.social about how generative AI is reshaping the fraud industry.

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The Maybe @themaybe.org · 7d

1/6
Thought we were at peak scam? Well, ScamGPT just entered the chat. This week, we're talking about how generative AI is supercharging the global fraud industry.

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Reposted by The Maybe

Sarah Myers West @smw.bsky.social · 10d

I've been feeling a little bit crazy reading the news lately about what's going on in the AI market and what it means for the economy at large. So I'm grateful I got to knit the threads together with @alixdunn.com last week.

Alix Dunn @alixdunn.com · 10d

I don’t want AI companies to get a bailout. I said this to @smw.bsky.social of @ainowinstitute.bsky.social last week, and she said they already were being bailed out. We sat down to talk about it in our first full-form video interview here:
youtu.be/WvN1wQ_CBlY?...

Are AI Companies Cooking the Books? w/ Sarah Myers West

YouTube video by The Maybe

youtu.be

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The Maybe @themaybe.org · 14d

6/6

Listen to our conversation to understand the scam that shaped America.

#MLM #PyramidScheme #GigEconomy #Scams #Labor #TechPolicy

The Maybe

www.themaybe.org

The Maybe @themaybe.org · 14d

5/6

Bridget Read connects the dots from the first MLMs fighting New Deal labor laws to the gig economy and tech startups of today, showing how the pyramid scheme became a blueprint for the modern economy.

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The Maybe @themaybe.org · 14d

4/6

So why do people join? Because MLMs don't just sell a product; they sell an ideology of hyper-individualism. They tell you that your success or failure is entirely your own fault.

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The Maybe @themaybe.org · 14d

3/6

The business is recruitment. This creates a pyramid structure where only the people at the very top make significant money, while the vast majority at the bottom take on debt and risk.

1

The Maybe @themaybe.org · 14d

2/6

Our guest is @bridgetgillard.bsky.social , author of "Little Bosses Everywhere.” She explains that the core of the MLM model isn't selling products to customers—it's getting new sellers to buy the products themselves.

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The Maybe @themaybe.org · 14d

1/6

Want to be your own boss? Work from home and achieve financial freedom?

This week, we're talking about the original "innovation" that perfected that pitch: the Multi-Level Marketing scheme.

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The Maybe @themaybe.org · 17d

2/2

We’re talking with Marisol from the @nodesertdatacenter.com about their grassroots victory and how they’re now organizing for future protections.

Join us today from 5-6pm ET to hear from Marisol and other organizers leading the fight. Register here:

luma.com/l7m3nzzn

Let Them Eat Compute: Computer Says Maybe Climate Week Livestream · Luma

Hearing a lot about AI and data center expansion? That it's happening quickly, behind closed doors, putting huge demands on strained energy grids, leading to…

luma.com

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The Maybe @themaybe.org · 17d

1/2

Amazon planned to build a massive data center in Tucson. If built, Project Blue would have threatened the city’s already scarce water supply.

But the community fought back — and won.

Smiling person named Marisol, wearing a colorful headscarf with red and green patterns, dark hair, and a sleeveless top. The background is bright with abstract blue, yellow, and white shapes, and text reading ‘Marisol’ appears at the bottom.

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The Maybe @themaybe.org · 18d

4/4

She’s joining us in NYC for our live show on data center resistance. Tune in to learn how communities can fight for a more affordable, sustainable energy future.

Link to register - luma.com/l7m3nzzn

Let Them Eat Compute: Computer Says Maybe Climate Week Livestream · Luma

Hearing a lot about AI and data center expansion? That it's happening quickly, behind closed doors, putting huge demands on strained energy grids, leading to…

luma.com

2 2

The Maybe @themaybe.org · 18d

3/4

Meet KDMinor . With the Alliance of Affordable Energy, she's working to demystify the energy demands of data centers and rally communities to oppose infrastructure projects that don’t serve the public interest.

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The Maybe @themaybe.org · 18d

2/4

These facilities consume enormous amounts of power, straining local energy grids. When demand spikes, electricity costs often rise for everyone on that grid.

But how can communities push back against rising utility costs driven by Big Tech?

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