Netflix to Begin Cracking Down on Password Sharing in Early 2023

According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, the popular streaming service will stop sharing passwords in early 2023. There have been rumors about the end of password sharing for a long time, but the changes will go into effect next year.

The increase in subscriptions in 2020 allowed the company to not address password sharing. Reed Hastings decided it was time to act on the issue because it had been put off for too long.

People who share accounts with others outside of their home will be asked to pay to do so. Some Latin American countries have been testing add on payments for password sharing. In these countries, the primary account owner must provide a verification code to anyone outside the household who wants to access the account, with the service constantly asking for the code until a monthly fee is paid.

In the United States, a similar tactic could be used where non-household subscribers who share someone's plan could be charged less than the full price of the plan. If you have a shared password, you will be able to sign up for your own account.

Password sharing rules will be enforced through a number of factors. Password sharing may be phased out rather than put a stop to it all at the same time. Adding pay-per-view content that made users not want to share their passwords with people who might rent content was one method that was considered by the company.

The terms of service for the service do not allow for multi-household sharing, but they have looked the other way for a long time. An estimated 222 million paying households share passwords with 100 million households that want to be monetized.

Multiple viewers watching outside of the same household is not included in the pricing of the plans. Ultra HD 4K streaming and support for watching on four supported devices at the same time, as long as those devices are owned by people in the same household, is possible with the premium plan of the company.

The more affordable ad-supported tier is priced at $6.99 per month and is available in the US.