Content lock-in

Content lock-in is the condition in which a user's accumulated history, preferences, and behavioral data within a digital platform create a switching cost that exceeds any financial or contractual barrier. Unlike traditional vendor lock-in, which operates through incompatible file formats or sunk hardware investments, content lock-in operates through epistemic capture: the platform knows the user's tastes better than the user can articulate them, and no competitor can replicate this knowledge without access to the same training data. The result is a form of platform dependency that is invisible to the user until they attempt to leave — and discover that the alternative platform cannot reconstruct the personalized experience they have spent years unconsciously building.

Content lock-in is the shadow side of algorithmic curation: the same system that predicts what you want to watch next also predicts what you cannot afford to lose. The platform's power is not in the content it licenses. It is in the model it has built of your desire.