Netflix Continues Password Sharing Crackdown With New Fees

Netflix's dreaded password-sharing crackdown is picking up steam, and there's no stopping it now.

The streaming giant has been threatening to crack down on account sharing for a some time now, and took the first steps towards doing so earlier this year. Back in March, Netflix announced it would also begin rolling out new features specifically designed to prevent password sharing with friends and family outside of your household.

The streaming giant is currently asking customers in five more countries to pay up if they share their login information with people outside of their home.

As reported by Bloomberg earlier this week, customers in Argentina, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and the Dominican Republic are now being asked to pay if they share login information with people who regularly access the account from outside of their home. This will not have an impact on the use of Netflix on mobile devices.

While the price of adding a new address to your account varies between countries, Bloomberg notes it's never any more than $2.99 (roughly £2.50). Netflix claims over 100 million households are using shared accounts, which... yeah, that makes sense to me.

Back in March Netflix rolled out a similar feature in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru. The streaming giant is looking to see what methods are most effective before introducing password sharing restrictions worldwide. This means we don't know when exactly these fees will arrive in the UK, but it's surely only a matter of time.

It's been a tough year for Netflix. So far in 2022, the company has recorded its biggest loss in nearly 10 years and, on one dark day, managed to wipe $50 billion of its value in less than 24 hours. Between the new password sharing crackdown and new, cheaper ad-supported subscription tier, we'll see if Netflix can right the ship.