Enshittification

This is awesome. If another American happens to read this, here is the text of a letter I adapted from the letters I found on Breaking Free that you could send to your rep and senators (if you need an easier way to do this, check out resistbot):

Letter text:

I write as your [COUNTY/STATE] constituent to express serious concern about the increasing concentration of power in digital markets, the deterioration of digital services that American consumers and businesses depend on, and the risks posed by current moves to weaken oversight of dominant technology companies.

At a time when digital services are becoming less useful and more exploitative, deregulatory efforts aimed at the technology sector represent an unprecedented risk to consumers, small businesses, and national security. Recent geopolitical instability has made clear how vulnerable our digital infrastructure becomes when a handful of dominant companies control the platforms on which our economy, communications, and civic life depend.

Major technology companies are using their outsized market power and resources to steer innovation, shape markets to their advantage, and lobby decision-makers against meaningful oversight. They spend heavily to block or weaken privacy legislation, antitrust enforcement, and consumer protection rules. They exploit their dominance to normalize business models that depend on the mass collection and monetization of personal data—often in ways that are incompatible with Americans’ reasonable expectations of privacy and autonomy.

These companies are locking in consumers and business customers, then degrading their services without fear of consequence. Websites and apps are increasingly overrun with ads and low-quality content. Useful features are removed or downgraded. Switching to alternatives is made deliberately difficult. This is not the behavior of companies competing in a healthy market—it is the behavior of monopolists extracting value from a captive user base.

The United States still lacks comprehensive federal privacy legislation. Efforts like the American Data Privacy and Protection Act have stalled under industry pressure. Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission’s capacity to enforce existing consumer protection authority is under sustained attack. Proposals to limit the FTC’s rulemaking power and cut its enforcement budget would remove the last meaningful check on anticompetitive and exploitative practices in digital markets.

Rather than weakening oversight, Congress should be taking concrete steps to restore competition and protect consumers. I urge you to support the following:

First, rebalance power between service providers and consumers. Americans should be able to control their digital experiences: to decide how they use products they have purchased, to switch to alternative services without punitive barriers, and to modify services to suit their needs. Right-to-repair principles and data portability requirements are essential.

Second, reduce dependency on dominant platforms. Competition in digital markets must be restored. This requires vigorous antitrust enforcement by the DOJ and FTC, and legislative action where existing law is insufficient. Congress should advance interoperability and data portability requirements that allow new competitors to emerge. The federal government, as one of the largest technology procurers in the world, should leverage its purchasing power to support open-standards-based alternatives to dominant platforms.

Third, enforce existing laws. Far from hindering innovation, clear rules provide the guardrails that make fair competition and genuine innovation possible. Weak enforcement allows dominant firms to continue anticompetitive and harmful practices at the expense of consumer choice, service quality, and the competitive landscape. The FTC and DOJ must be adequately funded and empowered to carry out their enforcement mandates.

Fourth, pass comprehensive federal privacy legislation and close legal loopholes. Americans deserve clear, enforceable protections against deceptive design patterns, manipulative personalization, and addictive interfaces. Without a strong federal standard, consumers are left with a patchwork of state laws that large companies can navigate and small competitors cannot.

The digital economy touches every aspect of daily life in Tennessee and across the country. The path we are on, toward greater concentration, less competition, and weaker oversight, is not inevitable. With adequate enforcement of existing law, targeted new legislation, and strategic public investment in open alternatives, we can have a digital economy that serves the public rather than exploiting it.

I appreciate your attention to these concerns and welcome the opportunity to discuss them further.