{"id":14688,"date":"2026-10-21T10:00:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T04:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gtm360.com\/blog\/?p=14688"},"modified":"2026-10-10T19:51:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T14:21:16","slug":"enshittification-of-et-prime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gtm360.com\/blog\/2026\/10\/21\/enshittification-of-et-prime\/","title":{"rendered":"Enshittification Of ET Prime"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Enshittification<\/em>: The process where digital platforms and services gradually decline in quality as companies stop prioritizing users and instead focus on maximizing profits for themselves and their shareholders.<\/p>\n

The term was coined by Cory Doctorow in 2022.<\/p>\n

In this post, I’m applying it to ET PRIME<\/strong>, the paid subscription of Economic Times<\/em>, probably the second largest MSM business daily in the world (see footnote 1<\/em>).<\/p>\n

\n

I’ve been a paid subscriber of ET Prime<\/em> for many years.<\/p>\n

For the first two years or so, I was very impressed with the value delivered by ET Prime in the form of special articles, clippings, search, etc.<\/p>\n

But, of late, it has started sucking big time. Given below are six areas in which ET Prime has gotten “enshittified” in the recent past.<\/p>\n

1. Newsletter<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I click the link to an article in its daily digest email newsletters, I don’t see the article on ET Prime’s website. Instead, I get the error message “HTTP Status 400 \u2013 Bad Request”.<\/p>\n

As a workaround, I need to open the link in the Chrome Incognito Mode<\/em> where the article opens fine, copy the URL of the page from the browser address bar, paste into address bar in the Chrome Normal Mode<\/em>. Pain!<\/p>\n

e.g.<\/p>\n

Link in newsletter<\/em>: https:\/\/nltrack.indiatimes.com\/tracking\/track\/cl\/native?param=06a7cd4c2743747794d4b8f676b33e33b91b9d5689f1668cf42da6aa8c60af9f04c95c8e726041a98b3db5920c00648db14a47dfa9846c419c1e8d7faafa0aadac75d89fdf9d02cb8eac38cce580eb97e191cdc6ef8e0d20&o=6a655c200b910053e814845d.<\/p>\n

Link in Chrome Incognito Mode<\/em>: https:\/\/economictimes.indiatimes.com\/epaper\/delhicapital\/2026\/jul\/26\/sunet-front\/gen-z-gets-an-a\/articleshow\/132633389.cms?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ETepaper_paid&utm_content=front-page&ncode=06a7cd4c2743747794d4b8f676b33e33b91b9d5689f1668cf42da6aa8c60af9f04c95c8e726041a98b3db5920c00648db14a47dfa9846c419c1e8d7faafa0aadac75d89fdf9d02cb8eac38cce580eb97e191cdc6ef8e0d20&nl_id=626bc2ad7ae3583e7033658f.<\/p>\n

Link in Chrome Normal Mode<\/em>: https:\/\/economictimes.indiatimes.com\/epaper\/delhicapital\/2026\/jul\/26\/sunet-front\/gen-z-gets-an-a\/articleshow\/132633389.cms.<\/p>\n

This problem cannot be attributed to any Chrome Extension on my laptop because these links used to work perfectly fine for years until recently and I haven’t installed any new extension for ages.<\/p>\n

2. Website<\/strong><\/p>\n

The website loads extremely slowly. At times, it starts shaking wildly, as you can see in the following video exhibit.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/gtm360.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/et-page-sorter-shaking.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

3. Page Sorter<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pages are labeled incorrectly in the page sorter view.<\/p>\n

e.g. When I click the page labeled AI Startups & Tech<\/em>…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

… it opens the different Companies Pursuit of Profit <\/em>page.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

4. Non-clickable Articles<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many articles are not clickable, so I’m not able to clip them. This makes it difficult to save articles for future reference. I can’t manage with bookmarks of the digital view alone since the online version of the article may become defunct aka linkrot<\/em><\/a> or get moved behind a paywall anytime – neither of which is in my control.<\/p>\n

5. Search\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Back in the day, I raved about the search feature on ET Prime.<\/p>\n

\n

Awesome ePaper search in Economic Times via @etprime<\/a>: Not only finds text in articles but also in images and ads. pic.twitter.com\/rOrs7exRyv<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 SKR (@s_ketharaman) March 20, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n