Streaming giant Netflix is reportedly considering cracking down on users sharing their account passwords with friends and family.
BBC News reports that some Netflix users have reported seeing a screen when logging onto Netflix that states “If you don’t live with the owner of this account, you need your own account to keep watching.” A Netflix spokesperson told the BBC: “This test is designed to help ensure that people using Netflix accounts are authorized to do so.”
It’s common knowledge that many Netflix users share passwords with friends and family, so far Netflix has done little to combat this but soon may begin cracking down on potentially lost profits from account sharing as other rival streaming services like Disney+ and HBO Max begin to gain traction.
A decision on whether or not to roll out the warning screens across Netflix’s entire service has yet to be made. In the trial of the feature, users can verify their access to the Netflix account by receiving a code via text or email.
During a 2016 webcast, Netflix co-founder and chief executive Reed Hastings offered his opinion on password sharing, stating: “Password sharing is something you have to learn to live with, because there’s so much legitimate password sharing, like you sharing with your spouse, with your kids, so there’s no bright line, and we’re doing fine as is.”
In October 2019, Netflix’s chief product officer Greg Peters stated that the company was looking into password sharing but had no “big plans to announce at this time in terms of doing something differently there.”
Netflix gained nearly 37 million new subscribers in 2020 and now has a total of over 200 million subscribers worldwide.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com