Netflix Will Crack Down On Password Sharing in 2023
Attention, Netflix junkies: from the sound of it, 2023 will be the year you'll be forced to stop suckling from the teat of your parent's/ex's/roommate's Netflix account.
Unless they're bluffing again... and it doesn't sound like they are.
The streaming giant has kicked the password-sharing can repeatedly down the road over the years. However, now The Wall Street Journal reports that they are finally planning to address the issue.
However, now that subscriber numbers have taken a dip — and revenue with it — Netflix will implement some way of keeping password sharing at bay.
For streaming platforms, password sharing is quite the issue.
An estimated 100 million users are using passwords from someone else — usually family or friends — according to Netflix itself.
The company says that it will allow people to share passwords however each person will have to pay. Which then begs the question: what's the point of sharing the password?
Netflix is already bracing for the blowback from this decision.
“Make no mistake, I don’t think consumers are going to love it right out of the gate,” Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said.
Technically speaking, password sharing has always been against Netflix's terms of service, they just never enforced it. It's like one of those old laws that's still on the books but no one has gotten arrested or cited for it in 100 years.
When they finally make a move to combat password sharing, Netflix will be the first streaming company to do so.
Powers that be at competitors like Disney+, HBO Max, and Peacock will be watching how it all plays out.
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