Netflix sends warning to customers about password sharing in test
Netflix users were met with a new pop-up message from the streaming service.
Look, let’s be honest. Sharing passwords is as endemic to the Netflix experience as having your favorite show canceled two seasons in. So when the streaming service starts testing ways to curtail that practice, it understandably riles up the many, many people who have come to expect communal accounts as a matter of course. And yes, it is always annoying when a gravy train goes off the rails. But even if it’s not Netflix’s top priority here, you’re much better off keeping your password to yourself.
Netflix is testing a way to let users know they aren’t supposed to be sharing passwords with others if they don’t live in the same home.
Alarm bells were raised on social media this week of a possible clampdown. Many people posted photos of a pop-up message they received when logging into Netflix. The message read: “If you don’t live with the owner of this account, you need your own account to keep watching.”
Netflix spokesperson told ABC News on Friday that “this test is designed to help ensure that people using Netflix accounts are authorized to do so.”
Netflix did not disclose how many people got the test.
Sources familiar with the matter said this is still in the early stages of development and is currently not about enforcement nor stopping people from being able to watch Netflix.
During an earnings call in late 2019, Netflix’s chief product officer, Greg Peters, acknowledged the company was aware of the password-sharing situation. He responded, “We’ve got no big plans to announce at this point in time in terms of doing something differently there.”
Approximately one-third of subscribers to services like Netflix share their password with someone outside their household, The Wall Street Journal reported last June, citing data from the market research firm Magid.
Read the original article over at ABCNews.com.
