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Movies & TV

04th Feb 2023

Netflix backtracks on anti-password sharing measures following user outcry

Stephen Porzio

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The streaming service claims it posted the password-sharing rules in error.

It was much reported in 2022 that Netflix was trialling a new costing system in the hopes of cracking down on password sharing, with the test beginning in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru.

Nearly a year later, however, the system has yet to be instigated in the UK and Ireland, though earlier this week, the streaming service posted details of a plan to combat password sharing on its US website.

This outlined that Netflix accounts would only be allowed to be shared within one household and that signing into the service outside of your home could lead to the device in use being blocked from the streamer.

The proposed measures led to an outcry from Netflix users, particularly students in college living away from their families and those who travel for a living.

That said, The Streamable now reports that these rules have since been taken down from the streaming service’s US site.

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According to the outlet, a Netflix spokesperson confirmed that while those measures are currently in effect, they are not being introduced as of yet in the US.

“For a brief time yesterday, a help center article containing information that is only applicable to Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru, went live in other countries. We have since updated it,” the spokesperson said.

They also stated that if and when Netflix was to make such significant changes, it would communicate the necessary details to its customers before rolling them out.

The spokesperson also said that the introduction of such alterations to the service would be staggered.

This all comes as Netflix’s co-CEO Greg Peters has previously said that measures to prevent password sharing in the US will be brought in by the end of March.

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