Netflix password crackdown is imminent, 100 million accounts facing consequences

Bad news for those who still haven’t logged out of their friend’s Netflix account that they “borrowed” once back in 2016 - the password-sharing days are almost over for good.

Well, it’s not that you won’t be able to share an account, but you won’t be able to do so for free. Last year, Netflix rolled out fees for password sharing in a number of countries in Latin America. That was only the beginning, though - this same concept will soon be rolled out more widely, despite the streaming giant’s concerns of a “cancel reaction”.

Take a look at some bloopers from Netflix’s hit show Wednesday below.

As LADbible reports, it’s thought that “widespread account sharing” now spans over 100 million viewers worldwide, so a massive proportion of Netflix users are going to be affected by this. A recent shareholder letter from the company reveals that the streaming giant only expects an impact on “near term member growth”. It added: “As borrower households begin to activate their own standalone accounts and extra member accounts are added, we expect to see improved overall revenue, which is our goal with all plan and pricing changes.”

So, when is this going to start happening? By the sounds of it, it could be as soon as March - the current plan is to bring in paid sharing “more broadly” by late Q1 2023. At the time of writing, it’s not been explicitly stated where Netflix plans to enforce the fees next, but it certainly sounds like it’s going to become a worldwide plan eventually.

How Netflix’s subscriber count will be impacted remains to be seen - although the company seems convinced that it’ll be a beneficial change overall, many subscribers have been unhappy lately about the amount of shows that have been abruptly cancelled, so this could end up being the final straw for some.