How internet became 'enshittified' - and how to fix it

By Charles Barbour of

Photo: Victor Okhrimets / 123RF

Analysis: Remember when Twitter used to be good? I reckon it peaked somewhere around the first Covid-19 lockdowns.

In those days, there was a running gag on the site where everyone would refer to it as a "hellscape" and it did invite some of the worst that humanity has to offer.

Opinions, as the old joke goes, are like assholes - everybody has one, but if you curated your Twitter feed effectively, you could have immediate scrolling access to the best journalism and cultural commentary, excellent podcasts and comedians, film criticism and book reviews, the latest trends in food, music or clothing, decent information about public health, live stream feeds of smart people on the ground at the most pressing events of the day, not to mention the wisecracks and insights of your friends.

It was like being perpetually part of an in-crowd, the promise of a world where potentially anyone could feel connected, in touch and popular.

Then came the rumours that the increasingly fascist-curious Elon Musk was scheming to buy the platform. Not possible, we thought at first.

It would be a terrible business decision, and anyone interesting or important would flee overnight.

Then Musk bought Twitter, horribly rebranding it as X. Then we speculated (or hoped) it would drive him bankrupt.

Then it didn't.