Oh me, oh my. Netflix has reportedly been on their binoculars for users who share passwords to avoid paying for their account.
As you may very well be aware of now, there are Netflix packages that enable account sharing. To a certain degree, if you bend some of the conditions, the streaming giant’s user account model is very prone to these certain situations. Depending on what plan the account is on, multiple profiles can be created.
Friends with benefits >>>>>>>
by benefits I mean sharing Netflix/Hulu/etc. accounts
— krissyveebaby (@krissyveebaby) July 8, 2020
Dear government,
If @netflix didn't want people sharing their accounts, they wouldn't make it an option to add more than one person on there— TN Boy (@TNBoyGent) August 2, 2016
The basic package starts at £5.99 per month, enabling only one screen for viewing. The standard package, on the other hand, begins to add up nicely at £8.99 per month, enabling two screens to watch at the same time. The premium package, the biggest of them all, comes at a whopping £11.99 per month, enabling a huge four screens for watching at the same time.
The thing is, these plans were solely designed to allow people living in the same household to enjoy Netflix with the same login.
As per the streaming giant’s terms and conditions, it is stated that:
“The Netflix service and any content viewed through the service are for your personal and non-commercial use only and may not be shared with individuals beyond your household.”
If you violate these terms, they have the right to “terminate or restrict” an account once there has been an engagement of “illegal or fraudulent use of the service.”
Greg Peters, Netflix’s Chief Product Officer, said that the streaming service was finding ways to address the issue. However, their problem is how to do it without “alienating a certain portion of the userbase.”
Peters has also stated that they would be continuing to find solutions that would be “consumer friendly.”
However, there have already been accounts that felt the effects of the streaming giant’s minimization of sharing accounts.
Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said that Netflix has been “blocking the third concurrent screen if two screens are in use at the same time.”