Understood

By CBC

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Category: Entertainment News

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Subscribers: 352
Reviews: 4
Episodes: 29

Lee
 May 22, 2025
"Who Broke the Internet" is essential listening for anyone who's touched a piece of technology in the last 5 years. Doctorow is a philosopher on all things digital and thank you to the CBC for calling out the rise of enshittification!

Rebecca
 May 28, 2024
Excellent reporting and a very interesting podcast! No matter what the topic is, I listen and know it's going to be good. 😊


 Apr 5, 2023

ian
 Mar 28, 2023
high quality, well produced, well narrated. i liked it a lot.

Description

Host Cory Doctorow coined the word "enshittification" to describe the state of the modern internet: a broken down, decaying place, once full of promise, now overrun with intrusive ads, hateful trolls, aggressive algorithms, zero privacy, and AI-generated slop, with every billionaire tech titan in a race to the bottom to bleed their users and their customers alike.It can feel like it was inevitable — but it didn't have to be this way.The modern internet is the result of decisions made by powerful people, at key moments in history, despite repeated warnings about where it would lead.In Understood: Who Broke the Internet?, Doctorow traces the downward spiral from the heady days of '90s tech-optimism through to today's rotten "enshitternet." You'll meet everyone from visionaries to villains to regular people just trying to survive in today's online world. And you'll discover who broke the internet — and, more importantly, a plan to fix it. Know more, now. Understood is an anthology podcast that takes you out of the daily news cycle and inside the events, people, and cultural moments you want to know more about. Over a handful of episodes, each season unfolds as a story, hosted by a well-connected reporter, and rooted in journalism you can trust. Driven by insight and fueled by curiosity…The stories of our time: Understood.Season 1 - The Naked Emperor: the rise and fall of bitcoin king Sam Bankman-Fried.Season 2 - The Pornhub Empire: the story of how a Montreal-founded company came to dominate the adult industry.Season 3 - Modi’s India: how one man rose from poverty to the peak of political power.Season 4 - Céline: the surprising cultural, political and business alchemy that created a superstar.Season 5 - Who Broke the Internet? The internet sucks now, and it happened on purpose.

Episode Date
In God We Antitrust
May 19, 2025
Ctrl, Ctrl, Ctrl
May 12, 2025
Don't Be Evil
May 05, 2025
Introducing Understood: Who Broke the Internet?
Apr 28, 2025
Céline Episode 4: The Céline-aissance
Nov 05, 2024
Céline Episode 3: The Globalization of Céline
Oct 29, 2024
Céline Episode 2: The U.S. Gamble
Oct 22, 2024
Céline Episode 1: Conquering Québec
Oct 15, 2024
Introducing Céline: Understood
Oct 08, 2024
BONUS: Modi’s weak win
Jun 05, 2024
Modi's India Episode 4: The Storyteller
May 27, 2024
Modi's India Episode 3: The Strongman
May 20, 2024
Modi's India Episode 2: Development Man
May 13, 2024
Modi's India Episode 1: Emperor of Hindu Hearts
May 13, 2024
Modi's India: Season 3 of Understood
Apr 24, 2024
The Pornhub Empire Episode 4: Cleanup crew
Apr 01, 2024
The Pornhub Empire Episode 3: Pornhub’s disgrace
Mar 25, 2024
The Pornhub Empire Episode 2: Pornhub goes mainstream
Mar 18, 2024
The Pornhub Empire Episode 1: Free porn for everyone
Mar 11, 2024
Introducing: The Pornhub Empire
Feb 22, 2024
Bonus: Click Here from Recorded Future News
Feb 21, 2024
The Naked Emperor BONUS | Guilty: The fall of Sam Bankman-Fried
Nov 06, 2023
The Naked Emperor BONUS: The Trial of Sam Bankman-Fried
Oct 02, 2023
The Naked Emperor BONUS: Binance and its CEO sued in major crypto case
Jun 08, 2023
The Naked Emperor Episode 4: It Takes a Village
Apr 03, 2023
The Naked Emperor Episode 3: Busted
Mar 27, 2023
The Naked Emperor Episode 2: The Beginning of the End
Mar 20, 2023
The Naked Emperor Episode 1: The Hype
Mar 13, 2023
The Naked Emperor Trailer – Season 1 of Understood
Feb 22, 2023