Netflix has taken up the trial task of seeing if they can crack down and stop password sharing so that multiple users cannot use the same account unless they live under the same roof. Users have made complaints stating there have been a message on their screen that if they don’t live with the owner of the account that they are using then they would have to have their own account to keep watching.
There was a Netflix spokesperson who said that “This test is designed to help ensure that people using Netflix accounts are authorized to do so.” But this being said there is still no decision made if the company will roll out this for all account around the world as it still in its testing stages. The trial itself is where the user can verify themselves by an access code sent via text or email.
The reason Netflix has taken this decision is that they are trying to find ineligible users although it is not very clear as to how many people use the platform against their terms of service. There are many streaming services that allow multiple profiles under the main account holder but of course there are specific terms stating that they have to be from the same household.
It was in 2016 that the Netflix co-founder and chief executive Reed Hastings stated “Password sharing is something you have to learn to live with, because there’s so much legitimate password sharing, like you sharing with your spouse, with your kids, so there’s no bright line, and we’re doing fine as is.” In October 2019, chief product office Greg Peters of Netflix stated that the company was looking at the issue of password sharing but also said that the company had no “big plans to announce at this time in terms of doing something differently there”.
