Netflix Will Continue To Crack Down On Account Sharing With New Measures
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Featured Image Credit: Netflix
We all know at least one person who rides the free Netflix gravy train, don't we? There are plenty of reprobates out there who insist they'll chuck you a couple of quid a month if you give them access to your account so they can watch shows from the comfort of their own home. They never pay, obviously.
While most paying customers have never had a problem with this, Netflix quite clearly does. As I'm sure you're aware, the streaming giant has been cracking down on the massively common practice of users sharing passwords, implementing tough new measures to ensure those of you tuning in to watch Bridgerton are doing so from "authorised" accounts.
As part of these new rules, customers have being told that they must be part of the same household as the owner of the Netflix account they're attempting to access. To verify they're allowed to use Netflix via the account they want to use, they must verify their identity via email or text. Account sharing is against the terms of use, after all, and Netflix wants it to come to an end.
Users first started to notice tightening restrictions last month, and the bad news is that Netflix doesn't seem to have any intention of going back on its plans. In the midst of all this, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has insisted that while the streaming service will continue to limit account sharing, whatever it ends up doing "has got to feel like it makes sense to consumers."
Hastings was asked during a Netflix's Investor Relations interview today whether or not it was the right time to "turn the screws" on password sharing.
"We will test many things, but we will never roll something out that feels like turning the screws," he responded. "It has got to feel like it makes sense to consumers, that they understand."
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Netflix chief operating officer Greg Peters, added that the new account verification system is a test. "We're going to keep working on accessibility across the countries that we serve, but we also want to ensure that while we're doing that, that we're good at making sure that the people who are using a Netflix account, who are accessing the service, are the ones who are authorized to do so. And that's what this line of testing is about. It's not necessarily a new thing, we've been doing this for a while."
Peters admitted that Netflix is still looking into the "right model" for its customers, and still doesn't quite know the "right place to land" on the subject. It's looking likely that you won't be able to sponge off your mates when The Witcher season two drops later this year, though.
