From ghost launching to broligarchy: The tech terms defining the current digital era

The last few years have seen the digital sphere expand considerably, supported by the rapid progress in cloud, artificial intelligence and next-gen interfaces. This has led to new tech terms popping up faster than we can keep up. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT The inclusion of digitally-native Gen Z employees in the workforce has also supported this shift, calling for catchier tech terms across the digital and corporate landscape. These are some of our favourite tech terms that you never knew you needed to know. Ghost launch Ghost-launching is when a product or startup is quietly released into the market without any kind of hype, public announcements, marketing campaigns or build-up. This is mainly done to be able to judge real-life consumer behaviour quietly, without any pressure, by letting the product sit on an app store, website, or platform like Product Hunt and assess organic traction. In many cases, it is also done to monitor real-world performance and usage for glitches without the pressure of a massive audience. By eliminating the psychological fear of failure, it can also help founders avoid the perfection trap by endlessly delaying a project and forcing them to ship what is ready. However, on the flip side, a ghost launch can also result in total silence, invisibility and user indifference. Broligarchy Broligarchy refers to a small group of extremely rich and powerful men, or tech bros, like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Peter Thiel, who essentially use their immense wealth to gain political power. Instead of just hiring lobbyists, these leaders usually take direct roles or build closer ties with key political figures to influence regulations, gain funding or acquire other lucrative contracts. For example, Elon Musk spent hundreds of millions of dollars supporting the US presidential campaign and also acted briefly as the senior advisor to the President and de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Similarly, Peter Thiel has been credited with launching Vice President JD Vance’s political career, while his data mining company Palantir secured billions worth of defence and government contracts. AI-horning AI-horning refers to AI features being present in anything and everything you use or want to do online these days. This starts from Google’s AI overview while searching to Instagram’s AI images and Spotify’s AI DJ. This has extended to businesses that do not really need AI, including it just to hop onto the bandwagon and objectively making their services worse, more expensive and more confusing for consumers. Some examples include confusing and incomplete navigation features that lead you to the middle of nowhere, along with chatbots that never seem to answer your actual questions while plying you with automated, templated nonsense. Quit shaming Have you ever tried to cancel a subscription and been hit with an endless wave of pages asking you increasingly desperate questions about why exactly you are going and what they can do to make you stay? Congrats — you have just been quit-shamed. Most of us know the rising frustration of having to click "no" for every offer a platform throws at you to not cancel: pauses, discounts, a bundle offer and so much more. Having to call someone in order to cancel a subscription instead of simply clicking on an unsubscribe button has sadly become all too common now. Algospeak As more social media and digital platforms impose stricter content and censorship rules, algospeak has seen a distinct rise in the last few months. This is essentially a way of self-censorship to avoid being banned or shadow-banned, where online creators and users use safe or coded language to bypass strict automated content filters. This can be substitute words and alternate spellings but can also be emojis in some cases. For example, saying "unalive" instead of die, "seggs" instead of sex, "pew pew" for a gun or firearm and "leg booty" for the LGBTQ+ community. While this can help bypass content rules in the short term, it highlights a deeper and more fundamental problem in how these automated filters identify explicit or banned content. Subscription Creep Another occurrence that may seem all too familiar now is subscription creep. This is the gradual, stealthy accumulation of tiny monthly software and subscription fees that quietly drain your bank account on the backend until you suddenly realise you are paying dozens of euros for services and tools you never use. This has been made far worse by subscriptions being added to a growing list of services that you do need, so you are left with no choice but to cough up. Think video doorbells, fitness trackers, printers, gaming consoles and so much more, which all quickly add up. Enshittification Sadly, we have all come across some form of enshittification or the other in recent years. This is the gradual, deliberate breakdown in the quality of a digital platform or service over time as they prioritise higher profits. One example is social media platforms with feeds shifting away from content posted by actual friends and family towards more intrusive tracking, targeted ads and algorithm clickbait. Similarly, several search engines now prioritise paid advertisements over relevant results, while online marketplaces promote sponsored listings that can crowd out genuine product options. This can even extend to smart hardware like printers, tractors and other appliances, which may receive software updates that introduce subscription paywalls or block third-party repairs.