Streaming giant Netflix is trying to crackdown on password sharing. The move is also an attempt to make accounts more secure. According to GammaWire, digital streaming is rolling out a new feature that prevents people from ‘borrowing other’s accounts.
Some Netflix users who were apparently tapping into other people’s accounts turned to Twitter to express outrage at an apparent crackdown.
me if netflix cracks down on password sharing pic.twitter.com/wKKQifRGsu
— đź©· Tekki the Fairy đź©·Simon's canon wife 💜🍋 (@PrincessTekki) March 11, 2021
Netflix: well we are in the midst of a huge and terrible economic crisis… Seems like perfect time to Crack down on Password sharing, right?
— 👸🏽💓Mother Strawberry Sativa Pharmaceutica🍓🏥 (@Mae_DayJ) March 12, 2021
If I’m paying my bill I can share my password with whoever tf I please Netflix can go to hell, disrespectfully!
— Tiara 🦄💕✨ (@imperfectlyme_T) March 12, 2021
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The platform will look out for active users. When a device that is not a regular on the platform signs in, Netflix ask for verification of identity via an email or text.
“This test is designed to help ensure that people using Netflix accounts are authorized to do so,” said a spokesperson for the platform
Now the platform admits a friend could just send the verification to whoever they shared their login credentials with. However, in case of a breach, the streaming service sends a notice telling the person trying to log in that they need to be subscribers to keep watching the service. Netflix included the offer to try the service free for 30 days.
According to a survey last year by consulting firm Magid, with 200 million subscribers worldwide, nearly a third of Netflix subscribers share their passwords with people who don’t live with them. Analysis from Parks Associates estimated that password sharing and piracy cost companies in the streaming space around $9 billion alone.
Amid the pandemic, as people were cooped up in the house and resorted to digital streaming platforms to get through lockdown, Netflix solidified its leadership position as the biggest streaming platform worldwide. That’s how it ended up with over 200 million paid subscribers.
While password sharing has long been tolerated by Netflix, which has said that ‘guardrails are in place to prevent extreme abuses in password sharing’, they might be cracking down on the practice due to business reasons.
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