Netflix Looking to Crack Down on Sharing Accounts

Netflix is testing out a new fee to crack down on the practice of users sharing their accounts with people outside their household, according to a company blog post released on Wednesday.

Many people have access to Netflix, the world’s biggest streaming service, through the accounts of friends and family.

Although against Netflix’s terms and conditions, it’s common for people to share their log-in details with people close to them so that they can use the service as well. Some people even have access to the accounts of ex-partners and still sneakily use the service that way.

Currently, this practice doesn’t come with an extra fee, but Netflix is looking to curb it by charging users an additional fee each month to host over two people outside their household on their account.

Netflix testing fee for sharing accounts

The charge will be tested in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru before it is implemented in the US and a number of other locations, giving users a chance to finish their favorite show on a friend’s account before the fee kicks in.

According to the new policy, users can host two other viewers in different households from their own on their account for a small fee that amounts to less than if the two users created their own accounts.

The fee will likely top out around $3, which is substantially less than the $9.99 to $19.99 it could cost for users to open their own, independent subscriptions.

For example, a family of four, where two family members live in one household and the other two in two separate households, could pay a small fee each month to have the two people living outside of the household on their Netflix plan.

Any number of people who live under the same roof can share the same account under the policy.

Netflix will allow the extra user to create keep their viewing history and recommendations and move their profile to their own “subaccount.”

The streaming service argues that widespread account sharing comes at a massive cost for the company, and the money lost could be used to create its own Netflix original television shows and movies.

The cost of the company’s standard streaming plan, which allows two users to watch on the site at the same time, increased early this year to over $15 from $13.99 last year, and its premium plan, which allows four users to stream simultaneously, reached nearly $20 from $18.99 last year.

The basic streaming service, which enables just one user to stream the site, costs $9.99.

Netflix stated that the increase in costs was due to the company investing more in original shows and movies. The streaming service has created some smash hits, such as the Korean show “Squid Game,” which took the world by storm in 2021.