Reports about password sharing at Netflix have been piling up for a few weeks. The streaming service is now finally going to ban the widespread practice. We probably explain that biggest Netflix change of 2023 right away. Two things first. First: Password sharing has of course always been forbidden. Second, Netflix’s new password-sharing policy is coming. But how and when the company enforces them in Germanyit is not sure yet.
The most important information about the new password sharing regulation at a glance
Netflix Change 2023: Who is Affected by the Password Sharing Ban?
You only need to continue reading this article if you’re on Netflix’s most expensive premium subscription, for example, and don’t live in the same household as the person who transfers membership fees to Netflix each month.
example: You share the family subscription with your family living in city A. But you moved out a month ago and are now living in City B. So far, you have been able to use the old subscription without any problems, although Netflix does not officially allow this, at least. Netflix will soon officially take action against shared accounts across households. But what does that actually mean exactly? And when do you have to do something?
How exactly will Netflix regulate password sharing from 2023?
In the US, the Netflix change is expected to come into effect in January 2023. Anyone who, as in the example above, uses Netflix outside of the main household must then have their device verified by email. This is how it works:
Netflix
This is how password sharing is controlled
Who “illegally” uses a premium account, must have an additional fee pay and create a sub-account. The sub-account is then “legal” no matter where you stream.
In the still hypothetical scenario, the additional fee will probably be around 3 euros. This is how high the costs are in the countries where the regulation is active. It is not yet known whether this extra amount applies to every Netflix fan who streams outside of the household, but this regulation is obvious. If 4 people in Germany share a premium account, each member could pay around 7.50 euros from 2023.
But the question is: When will Netflix get serious? And how is the additional cost charged?
Even after the ban on sharing passwords: You don’t have to be afraid of additional costs
Sooner or later, probably in the first quarter of the year, the new password-sharing regulation will also come into force in Germany. But that doesn’t explicitly mean that…
Because that would be a PR disaster for Netflix. The streaming service would gamble away painstakingly built user sympathies. The American trade journal Variety therefore assumes that the company will first will “annoy” especially with mails and notifications. That’s a plausible assumption.
The streaming service currently notes on its own services page: “Netflix won’t automatically charge your payment method if you share your account with someone who doesn’t live with you.” But how else does the streaming service want to raise the additional costs? There isn’t even a hint of information on this yet. The entire infrastructure for the additional costs still has to be set up.
That doesn’t mean that Netflix will give up the additional revenue from password sharing forever. The plans exist and are being further developed. Until then, however, the motto is: keep calm.
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