Netflix’s Password Sharing Crackdown Is Probably Coming In March
A couple of years ago, Netflix let everyone know that they were going to start to put an end to subscribers passing around passwords like a joint at a party. Then last year, Netflix said that they were going to start charging an extra fee to share a password with your auntie so she can binge Ginny & Georgia, but they never said when that change would go into effect. Well, looks like that change is now. Or in a couple of months, anyway. And this comes after they raised their prices last year, resulting in a mass exodus of people canceling their subscriptions using only their middle fingers. So I’m sure this will go down well.
According to Insider, Netflix believes the best way for them to recoup the money they’re losing at a rapid rate is by charging current subscribers an additional fee for sharing their passwords. This is either going to backfire terribly or usher in a new era of every streaming service charging for password sharing. They’ve already trialed this madness in some South American countries with an additional charge of around $3 per user outside of the home. And true to form, most of those users screamed, “¡No Bueno Bitch!” before canceling their subscription. But Netflix’s hope is that this policy will make people want to join their overpriced service with their own accounts.
In a letter to shareholders Thursday, Netflix said it expected to “roll out paid sharing more broadly” later in the first quarter. This means that by the end of March, it’s possible you won’t be able to give out your password for free.
Netflix said account sharing affected over 100 million households, which “undermines our long term ability to invest in and improve Netflix.” It added that while its terms of use already limited account use to a single household, “we recognize this is a change for members who share their account more broadly.”
“As we roll out paid sharing, members in many countries will also have the option to pay extra if they want to share Netflix with people they don’t live with,” the shareholder letter said.
I can see a revolt coming soon because many people already jumped ship when Netflix raised their prices. How dare they try and get more money out of folks when eggs cost a thousand dollars a carton? And the people over on Twitter aren’t here for this foolishness either.
we should all go on strike, we should all cancel our Netflix accounts in March when they get rid of password sharing
— e (@MamiEmCo) January 26, 2023
This @netflix household sharing crackdown is bullshit. If I pay for your service, I should be able to use it however the fuck I want. If I pay for 4 screens, I should be able to use them. You don’t need anymore fucking money, you have plenty.
— dash (@dash_cole23) January 21, 2023
Whether we like it or not, this may be happening by March, so gather your favorite folks and share the hell out of that password until everything changes for the worse. And let’s make sure we save a little room inside Twitter’s coffin for Netflix so we can have a double funeral because we’ll likely be saying goodbye to both of them in 2023.
Pic: Netflix