The Trust Paradox
Trust is not merely adjacent to enshittification — it is its prerequisite, its fuel, and its first casualty. Platforms arrive offering genuine value. Users invest time, data, social capital. They build lives within these architectures. They trust. This trust is not irrational; early platforms deliver real benefits. The problem is that trust is exploitable. Enshittification depends on trust as a predator depends on prey — not as opposition, but as sustenance. ...