Hi, we're a tech startup run by libertarian Silicon Valley tech bros.
Hi, we're a tech startup run by libertarian Silicon Valley tech bros.
Hi, we're a tech startup run by libertarian Silicon Valley tech bros.
We're not a newspaper, we're a content portal.
We're not a taxi service, we're a ride sharing app.
We're not a pay TV service, we're a streaming platform.
We're not a department store, we're an e-commerce marketplace.
We're not a financial services firm, we're crypto.
We're not a space agency, we're a group of visionaries who are totally going to Mars next year.
We're not a copywriting and graphic design agency, we're a large language model generative AI platform.
Oh sure, we compete against those established businesses. We basically provide the same goods and services.
But we're totally not those things. At least from a legal and PR standpoint.
And that means all the laws and regulations that have built up over the decades around those industries don't apply to us.
Things like consumer protections, privacy protections, minimum wage laws, local content requirements, safety regulations, environmental protections... They totally don't apply to us.
Even copyright laws — as long as we're talking about everyone else's intellectual property.
We're going to move fast and break things — and then externalise the costs of the things we break.
We've also raised several billion in VC funding, and we'll sell our products below cost — even give them away for free for a time — until we run our competition out of the market.
Once we have a near monopoly, we'll enshitify the hell out of our service and jack up prices.
You won't believe what you agreed to in our terms of service agreement.
We may also be secretly hoarding your personal information. We know who you are, we know where you work, we know where you live. But you can trust us.
By the time the regulators and the general public catch on to what we're doing, we will have well and truly moved on to our next grift.
By the way, don't forget to check out our latest innovation. It's the Uber of toothpaste!
Wow. This is a Mastodon account posting to Lemmy and we are getting cross platform engagement and it's all working pretty seamlessly. This is the first time I've seen this kind of thing on Lemmy. The Mastodon users don't get to see the upvotes though, right? The @ thing when they reply is kind of annoying but it seems like a fairly easy fix to hide those when browsing from Lemmy.
Wow. You just somehow accurately summed up the modern day result of late stage capitalism in one post. Nicely done
you're not a wealthy passenger bolted into a recklessly dangerous tourist submarine going to a mass grave, you're a mission specialist in an experimental submersible embarking on an expedition
Yooo Mastodon post on Lemmy let's goooo
@ajsadauskas @technology The one thing I don't sympathise with in that list is the taxi services — at least here in #Ottawa, they were even more exploitative than Uber or Lyft, with a small number of plate holders acting as feudal lords for the drivers, and extracting rent from their vassals even on a bad shift with few fares.
The city could have fixed that by issuing more plates, but the plate-owner lobby was too powerful.
"Michael was driving a car from a company that shows every private residence in the country. But it's also a company that won't let us show the car that takes those pictures. In fairness to them, it is their property. If you want to know what the company is, all you have to do is 'something' it."
- Arrested Development Narrator
@ajsadauskas @technology "enshitify" is my new favorite word.
Thanks, @ajsadauskas, for summarising extractivist platform capitalism strategies. The patterns are so clear that mainstreet is getting aware these days. At least partially. Time to rebuild the economy and the internet with collective & public interest first.
@ajsadauskas @technology One factual point I'm not clear on--how exactly are Lyft/Uber getting away with operating unlicensed taxi services? Are they just ignoring the law but getting away with it because city governments are tech-enthralled? (But could, theoretically, bust every uber driver for operating a taxi without a license)? Or do they actually have some legal basis for not needing medallions?
We are not just a startup. We are a mix of dreams, passions, and a ton of passionate slogans.
Had us in the first half not gonna lie
@ajsadauskas @technology don’t forget the fact that a good amount never turn a profit
This could be one of the more important social media posts of all time. And not one in 100,000 people will have enough information to appreciate a single word of it.
Source: @ajsadauskas
https://mastodon.social/@ajsadauskas@aus.social/110762848575512188I hate how accurate this is.
@ajsadauskas @technology
And we'll change our TOS and user agreement to our advantage whenever we feel like it but won't tell you what changed or why or how it'll effect you. But legally we told you so f*ck off if you have a problem with that.Please, send the Libertarians to Mars.
@ajsadauskas @technology
> By the time the regulators and the general public catch on to what we're doing, we will have well and truly moved on to our next griftFortunately, sometimes the grifters get justice served
https://decrypt.co/148288/lbry-token-plummets-file-sharing-crypto-project-shuts-down
Wish I could upvote this 1000 times.
You left out, "once we get the IPO, we're fucking right off with our billions."
Sounds great! Please take all of my savings, my kids' college fund, and the money from mortgaging my house. I'm sure you'll put it to good use and I'll get any sort of return at all.
These services are interfaces for interacting with data that YOU create
@ajsadauskas @technology These guys are not "libertarians", at all. They are, in fact, the antithesis of libertarian. They are authoritarians who believe in liberty only for themselves.
Investors: shut up and take my money!
Torment Nexus (tm) now with an extensive library of add-on modules.
Installing "Uber of toothpaste"
@ajsadauskas @technology The one thing I don't sympathise with in that list is the taxi services — at least here in Ottawa, they were even more exploitative than Uber or Lyft, with a small number of plate holders acting as feudal lords for the drivers, and extracting rent from their vassals even on a bad shift with few fares.
The city could have fixed that by issuing more plates, but the plate-owner lobby was too powerful.
@ajsadauskas @technology We're not an utter vaporware scam, we're an investment opportunity!
@ajsadauskas @technology fucking amen
@ajsadauskas @technology congratulations on this great post! I am now a follower of yours! Enjoy your Sunday/Monday! #mastodon
and it’s funny that pro-platform bad takes come from a certain yt personality.
Academics are discussing the real down sides of having their discourse disrupted twice by platforms. First by Facebooks purchase and shutdown of a platform they used, which spurred migration to Twitter and now Twitter. In general “academia” may be done with for profit platforms.
This sounds just like every startup's pitch to venture capital firms :)
@ajsadauskas @technology
Well put.Yup. Enclosure. Much of our lives take place on their estates.. I mean plantat.. I mean platforms. Wew. I think I need more coffee.
@ajsadauskas @technology Every "innovation" and "disruption" is an existing thing but worse
@ajsadauskas @technology this is brilliant.
Yep #dotcons is what we have been calling this for 20 years. It's a mess we have pushed over ourselves.
Sounds like a great startup! Where do I buy shares?
Yo, you looking to recruit? I'm unabashedly brazen with sharing my search history.
Furries have to get to space somehow.
"Used Car Salesman"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuBSEkBfqM8"You can trust me!"
@ajsadauskas @technology "By the way, don't forget to check out our latest innovation. It's the Uber of toothpaste!"
From: noreply@tøøther.com
Subject: Account closureDear User,
You have been rated 3 stars or lower by our toothbrushing partners in the last 14 days. For this reason we are closing your Tøøther account and revoking your toothpaste access. This decision is final and there is no appeal process.
Best regards,
Tøøther Trust And Safety Team.
Essay shortly after the first Musk owned Twitter exodus.
@ajsadauskas @technology Libertarians are just Republican’ts that smoke pot. 😎
@ajsadauskas @technology I see you know my Facebook friends too 😁
@ajsadauskas @technology sadly true. This speech has to be famous (congrats). I share it
@ajsadauskas @technology when we go out of business though we expect to be bailed out just like all the regulated industries
@ajsadauskas @technology welcome to the worst timeline :-(
@ajsadauskas @technology
Libertarian - Republican without the Jesus gimmick.@ajsadauskas @technology could you also be no oil company, please?
What is X? (aka: #deadbirdsite)
@ajsadauskas @technology Aah yes, my favorite kind of (right-)libertarian: "no step on snek that steps on other snek"
@ajsadauskas @technology #enshittification is such a needed word
@ajsadauskas @technology I would not purchase that product or service.
I've seen where that can go with regards to driverless automation.
@ajsadauskas @technology And don’t forget their enablers - the investors who pour in billions of dollars of other people’s money, the marketeers who hype these “disruptive” technologies and the copycats who naively follow them. “Disrupter” used to be a bad word - how that became a badge of honor is another of Silicon Valley’s mysteries. #disruptors #SiliconValley
@ajsadauskas @technology
Nicely said
Clarity is good
Thanks@ajsadauskas @technology This is still, one and a half year later, the best toot I've read.
@ajsadauskas @technology we also spread the delusion that its sustainable, amongst wannabe us ( aka mass investors )
@ajsadauskas @technology adds “enshitify” to personal vernacular
We're totally not just an old school ad delivery portal...like those old school newspapers and commercial television stations delivering ads
Google, Meta, Twitter...
@ajsadauskas @technology this is perfect.
Amazing work. Aren’t you the person who guessed exactly what Elon was going to do with Twitter?
@ajsadauskas @technology This doesn't sound like libertarian thought at all..
honestly i’ve started to realize that startups are the modern day robin hood. they take and burn money from VCs and turn them into very low cost services. then they try to turn a profit and everyone runs away to the next new startup that is there to “disrupt the competition” but in reality is just the same company in a younger phase.
fucking lol