Inside Netflix’s messy plan to charge you for login sharing this year

NETFLIX’s plan to crack down on password sharing won’t go according to plan.

According to a report by rest of the worldinitial attempts at the new policy in Latin America have confused users.

2

In March, the streaming giant began testing a technology that locates and charges credential swappers in Peru, Chile and Costa Rica.

It recently announced plans to expand the program to more countries starting next year.

However, reports from a dozen Netflix subscribers in Peru suggest chaos marred the launch of the new policy there.

They told Rest of World that most users were not made aware of the policy change via email or notification.

It stayed that way two months after Netflix first announced it.

Netflix enforcement levels also varied from user to user.

Some said they ignored requests to validate additional households for an account without receiving a penalty.

One user said they didn’t receive any notification of the policy change and continued to share their password with no issues.

There’s also confusion among users regarding Netflix’s definition of a “household.”

Some may consider their immediate family members to be part of their household even if they don’t live in the same building.

“While we started work on paid sharing over 18 months ago, we’ve known for five years that ‘a Netflix account is for people who live together in a single household,'” Netflix said.

“The millions of members actively sharing an account in these countries have been notified via email, but given the importance of this change, we are increasing in-product notifications more slowly. We are satisfied with the response so far.”

Netflix has admitted it is struggling this year due to increased competition, an increase in its fees and the company’s withdrawal from Russia after invading the country in Ukraine.

After losing 200,000 subscribers in early 2022, the Bridgerton hitmaker is targeting accounts shared with people outside of their household.

With an estimated 100 million accounts using this tactic, charging sharers could be a hefty additional income for the company.

But it comes at a terrible time for consumers who are already being squeezed by the rising cost of living.

The price for additional members in Chile is CLP 2,380 (£2.26/$2.98), while in Costa Rica it is $2.99 ​​(£2.27) and in Peru it is PEN 7.9 (£1.61/ $2.12) will be charged.

However, countries like the UK and US could expect much higher fees as subscriptions already cost more in those countries.

For example, in Chile, the premium package costs CLP 10,700 (£10.02 / $12.79).

That’s a lot cheaper than the UK and US, which set you back £15.99 and $19.99 respectively.

With this in mind, we can assume that all fees for additional profiles outside the household will cost much more if the raid is conducted closer to home.

An insider recently told The Sun he believes the charges would be £5.49 in the UK and $7.99 in the US.

It’s still not clear how Netflix intends to catch users and enforce the rules.

Netflix can use the IP address to identify when an account is not used in the same household.

Subscriptions recognized for account sharing will receive a prompt asking them to pay more for two additional profiles.

The platform reportedly uses multi-factor authentication, which involves sending a code to the bill payer’s phone each time, making it difficult for outsiders to use.

2

• Read the latest phone and gadget news
• Stay up to date on Apple stories
• Get the latest on Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram

We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online Tech & Science Team? Email us at tech@the-sun.co.uk