Media buyers are funding platform enshittification: Here's how to stop

Platform decay is real, it's accelerating, and media buyers are partly responsible. The good news is, we can also be part of the solution.

The word "enshittification", coined by author Cory Doctorow, describes the predictable lifecycle of online platforms: first they serve users, then they exploit users to serve advertisers, then they exploit advertisers to serve shareholders, and then they die. TikTok's uncertain reinvention in the U.S., Meta's endless algorithm pivots, Google Search's ad-stuffed results pages — these aren't bugs. They're the feature.

Our own Media Supervisor Melanie Mogey (of "The Chosen" entertainment marketing account) called it out directly in a MediaPost op-ed published today: Media buyers have been quietly subsidizing this process for years, and it's time we made different choices.

4 Key Facts:

1. Platform backends are getting harder to navigate by design. TikTok, Instagram, Amazon Ads, and Google Search have grown so complex that only experienced buyers with dedicated reps can operate them effectively. That complexity is not accidental — it creates dependency and raises switching costs.

2. Behavioral targeting fuels platform surveillance (and enshittification). When buyers optimize for behavioral data, they give platforms a direct financial incentive to track users more aggressively. Contextual advertising, or placing ads aligned with content rather than user profiles, removes that incentive and makes your media plan more portable across the open web.

3. Optimizing for "engagement" rewards toxicity. Platforms show ads to the most "engaged" users. Engaged, on most platforms, often means outraged or addicted. Buyers who optimize for engagement metrics are effectively paying platforms to surface their most volatile audiences — and to manufacture more of them.

4. Walled garden formats make measurement harder for you, too. Ad formats that keep users inside a platform's ecosystem don't just trap consumers; they make cross-channel measurement and attribution harder for the brands paying the bills. Favoring formats that drive to owned properties (your website, your product pages) is better for users and better for your reporting.

How to advertise without enshittification:

The shift isn't complicated, but it does require intention. Here's how we approach it at Exverus:

• Observe before you advertise. Every platform has its own cultural norms. Brands that barge in with high-frequency ads before understanding the environment don't just annoy users — they accelerate the race to monetize those users more aggressively.

Spend time learning the local language of each channel. Accept that your brand may not belong in all of them.

• Use inclusion lists, not just exclusion lists. Blocking bad inventory is table stakes. Actively curating which high-quality publishers receive your budget is the higher-order move. Allow-lists put you in control of the user experience your ads appear alongside.

• Measure downstream, not just on-platform. The metrics platforms give you are NOT the metrics platforms want you to optimize for. Actual sales, customer retention, and lifetime value are harder to game — and they're what your clients actually care about. Moving reporting upstream to real business outcomes removes the platform's leverage to manufacture engagement on your behalf.

The Bottom Line

We can't control what decisions get made in the C-suites at Meta, Google, or ByteDance. But we control where budgets flow. And budgets are votes. As Melanie puts it,

"We may not be able to control Big Tech, but we can do our part on the ground to help promote a healthier digital future that offers a more genuine connection for users and buyers alike."

Want to talk through what a less platform-dependent media plan looks like for your brand? Get in touch!