Netflix Password Sharing Alert—New Crackdown Starts In 2023

Netflix password sharing is a common thing but it’s no longer a good idea for a number of reasons. Amid falling profits this year and declining subscriber numbers, the popular streaming service is about to implement a crackdown on sharing passwords outside of your household, according to reports.

Starting in 2023, Netflix will ask those who share passwords to pay a little extra—the streaming platform has already tested this as a $3 add-on in some countries. However, it’s possible Netflix could simply force people to sign up as a second account for a slightly lower-priced subscription.

The lowdown on Netflix’s password-sharing crackdown

It was bound to happen at some point—Netflix has turned a blind eye to password sharing for a while, even though it is in breach of the streaming platform’s terms of service. But Netflix was able to look the other way when it was doing well, and its recent troubles are forcing it to find new ways of adding subscribers and revenue. Netflix lost nearly a million subscribers between April and July as more people decided to quit the service.

According to MacRumors, around 222 million paying households share passwords with an additional 100 million households that Netflix wants to monetize.

Netflix has already introduced a supported ad tier to try and entice more people to sign up to the platform amid a global cost of living crisis. However, this is off to a slow start, according to the Verge. Only 9% of Netflix Sign-ups in the U.S. in November were to the “Basic with Ads” plan, making it the least popular of their plan options, new data from analytics company Antenna reveals. In addition to the Basic with Ads Subscribers who signed-up for Netflix, Antenna observed 0.1% of Netflix’s existing U.S. Subscribers switching to the Basic with Ads plan in November, the firm added.

When Netflix does start to crack down on password sharing, it will be able to tell if you try to carry on doing so. Netflix collects vast amounts of user data and password sharing can be detected via IP addresses, device IDs and account activity.

UK watchdog says Netflix password sharing could be illegal

For UK Netflix users, this could be about to become even more complicated, as the UK watchdog is reportedly branding password sharing as illegal. The Intellectual Property Office has published new guidance alongside Facebook owner Meta which says:

“Piracy is a major issue for the entertainment and creative industries. Pasting internet images into your social media without permission, or accessing films, TV series or live sports events through Kodi boxes, hacked Fire Sticks or apps without paying a subscription is an infringement of copyright and you may be committing a crime.”

Why password sharing is often a bad idea

I get it—loads of people share passwords for streaming services, but this can be bad for your security too. People often choose weak, simple passwords that are easy to remember and they also repeat them across services. Passwords can be shared securely, using various password managers’ capabilities, but many people don’t know about these features or they don’t use password managers at all.