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Understood: The Big Bet · May 5, 2025 · 36 min

Who Broke the Internet? | E1: Don't Be Evil

Google Search was the gold standard — a product born in a dorm room during the internet’s early, idealistic era. But when internal emails surfaced they revealed a deeper conflict inside the company: was Google making Search worse, on purpose, to boost ad revenue? Google says its changes are all about benefiting users. Critics say it’s all part of a bigger pattern — one that host Cory Doctorow calls enshittification: the slow, deliberate decay of platforms in the name of profit. Guests in this episode include Ed Zitron, Emmanuel Goldstein, Clive Thompson, and Steven Levy.

0:00-36:47

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Google Search was the gold standard — a product born in a dorm room during the internet’s early, idealistic era. But when internal emails surfaced they revealed a deeper conflict inside the company: was Google making Search worse, on purpose, to boost ad revenue? Google says its changes are all about benefiting users. Critics say it’s all part of a bigger pattern — one that host Cory Doctorow calls enshittification: the slow, deliberate decay of platforms in the name of profit.


Guests in this episode include Ed Zitron, Emmanuel Goldstein, Clive Thompson, and Steven Levy. 

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