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- Netflix is testing strong measures to share passwords with people outside of your home.
- The practice is already banned, but Netflix has not enforced it in the past.
- The streaming service currently imposes limits on streaming from multiple devices simultaneously.
- For more articles, visit www.BusinessInsider.co.za.
Netflix will begin cracking down on one of the oldest traditions in subscription streaming: password sharing.
According to a report by Jason Gurwin of The Streamable, Netflix has started testing a new message when customers try to use a Netflix account that belongs to someone outside their home.
“If you do not live with the owner of this account, you need your own account to continue viewing,” the message says. Users will then be instructed to verify the account with a text message or email code, or to start their own 30-day free trial.
The feature is currently only being tested on televisions.
A Netflix spokesperson did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment, but told The Streamable that the test is “designed to help ensure that people using Netflix accounts are authorized to do so.”
Sharing passwords with people outside your home is already prohibited in Netflix’s terms and conditions, but the streaming giant has failed to enforce it in the past. Currently, the company limits the number of devices on which you can simultaneously stream your content, which is dictated by your subscription level.
Currently, Netflix does not impose a limit on the number of devices that can be logged into your account at one time.
Although Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings said in 2016 that sharing passwords is “something you have to learn to live with,” there have been increased efforts in recent years to crack down on the practice. Bloomberg reported in 2019 that Netflix, HBO, and a group of cable companies had formed a coalition to discover “consumer-friendly” ways to limit shared passwords, such as periodic and mandatory text codes or password changes.
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