#rp26 speaker Cory Doctorow

It is 2026. Our social media feeds seem to solely consist of AI slop, our attention continues to be monetized, and we are far removed from any digital sovereignty due to big-tech monopolists. Where will all of this lead to? 

To describe both the process we’re experiencing and the strategy behind it, the science fiction author and tech activist Cory Doctorow has coined a powerful term: “enshittification”. He describes how this process has by choice led to an internet in which platforms are designed to allow corporations to gradually exploit their users and business customers for their own profit rather than content quality. 

To Cory, it is clear: “Enshittification wasn't an accident. It also wasn't inevitable.” To counteract this process, we will however need more than technological modifications: “Only an attack on corporate power will permit effective regulation and real privacy”. In addition, “tech unions must protect the workers who should, in turn, defend us against their bosses' sadism and greed”. In  Cory’s recent book “Enshittification: Why everything suddenly got worse and what to do about it”, which will be published in German on May 13, he  explores these ideas and gives a poignant diagnosis of the failures of the digital economy – as well as effective ways to reclaim technology in the public interest. At re:publica 2026, he will share some of these thoughts with us live on stage in Berlin.

Cory Doctorow is special advisor to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit civil liberties group that defends freedom in technology law, policy, standards and treaties. He holds an honorary doctorate in laws from York University (Canada) and an honorary doctorate in computer science from the Open University (UK), where he is a Visiting Professor; he is also a Cornell University AD White professor-at-large, a MIT Media Lab Research Affiliate and a Visiting Professor of Practice at the University of North Carolina’s School of Library and Information Science. He also maintains a daily blog at Pluralistic.net.

Many of his books have been translated into dozens of languages and he has won several awards including the Locus, Prometheus, Copper Cylinder, White Pine and Sunburst Awards. Beyond his acclaimed non-fiction books, he has written several novels including ‘Picks and Shovels’ as well the solarpunk novels ‘Walkaway’ and ‘The Lost Cause’. Others include the tech policy books ‘The Internet Con’ and ‘Chokepoint Capitalism’. Cory has returned to re:publica frequently over the years, and we are looking forward to welcoming him on stage once again this year!