What you need to know
- Netflix is rolling out its account sharing crackdown in the United States and more countries this quarter.
- The service initially launched paid account sharing in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain earlier this year.
- The new policy demands a fee from users if they want to share accounts with people outside their households.
Netflix enforced new restrictions on password sharing earlier this year in a handful of countries, but the end of Netflix account sharing is gradually picking up steam in more regions, with the United States and more territories following suit starting in the second quarter of 2023.
The streaming giant revealed plans to expand its crackdown on password sharing to additional markets in its first-quarter 2023 earnings report, charging users to add subaccounts for streamers mooching their Netflix access. In the United States, the platform will soon start charging fees for subaccounts when users from different households use the same account.
Netflix will require each subscriber to set a "primary location" for their account in the United States, just as it does in countries where paid sharing is already in effect. This will prevent anyone they don’t live with from using their account, with alerts to buy an extra subscription popping up on their screen.
Only up to two extra members per account are allowed, and fees per additional user vary by country. In Canada, for example, users will have to pay an additional CAD $7.99 on top of Netflix's standard subscription rates.
Netflix's policy change marked a significant shift in its approach to password sharing in the past. Like many of the leading streaming services, the platform has had no issues with multiple users accessing the same account over the past several years. Its co-founder, Reed Hastings, even once said that he liked seeing people share their Netflix subscription.
After experiencing one of its largest subscriber losses in ten years, Netflix began monetizing account sharing last year.
Once implemented, Netflix subscribers in the United States will be able to remove certain freeloaders from their accounts. Alternatively, those moochers can migrate their profile to a new account to keep their preferences in place.
