Image via Adult Swim //
The dreaded Netflix password-sharing crackdown has been looming for a while, but it has finally reached Australian shores…
Netflix account holders in Australia have begun receiving an email from the streaming service warning of an imminent change to their rules around password sharing.
While Netflix have historically been pretty lax around the issue – meaning anyone, anywhere can login and use your account if you give them the password – things are about to change in a big way.
As the person who pays for Netflix this day is a minor annoyance. For the 10 folks with my password, it's the end of an era.
Also, fuck Netflix for this. 😌 pic.twitter.com/yfDgby0tRv
— Cunta Kinte ✊🏾 (@dougdimmadyke) May 24, 2023
“A Netflix account is for use by one household,” the email says. “If you want to share Netflix with someone outside of your household, you can use these features.”
From there you can either choose to transfer your freeloader onto “a new membership that they pay for” (cya sucker!) or pay for having an “extra member”, a feature you can share with “someone who doesn’t live with you”, which will cost you a pretty $7.99 per month.
Netflix charging $8 to password share? Bye pic.twitter.com/PSg2HhpL4L
— hasanito (@fagiotinii) May 23, 2023
The changes, which will impact people who share accounts with partners, family and friends outside of their place of residence, were first announced back in April 2022, after the streaming platform began losing subscribers for the first time in a decade.
The new approach was rolled out in New Zealand, Portugal, Canada and Spain in February, and was originally due to come into effect in Australia by the end of March.
netflix making
divorced families, elderly grandparents, college kids who live far away from home etc. pay extra for “password sharing” when they refuse to pay their writers fair royalties is absolutely ridiculous. where do you get off thinking people will be cool with this!— shannon (eras tour 5/20 and 5/27! ✨) (@holygroundsound) May 23, 2023
Netflix account holders are now required to provide a physical address, which will register as the primary location for their subscription. Up to five members at that address can be registered to the subscription, and Netflix will track the IP addresses of users to confirm they are at said location.
Of course, in the situation where a registered household member happens to watch Netflix while they’re away from home, Netflix can provide a one-time access code.
And as for the freeloaders? The only thing left to do is go home and watch The Big Lebowski tonight before your bumming privileges vanish in a puff of smoke.
I’ve been a @netflix member since probably 2010. I never cancelled it, even with the price hikes. But I think this password sharing crackdown plan is the last straw. Not even with your family members? What was the point of profiles then? 😠
— Miguel E. (@miguemonteropr) May 23, 2023
Netflix sent me that password sharing email and I've literally never cancelled a membership so fast.
— Kimberly Nguyen (@knguyenpoetry) May 24, 2023
Eff this crap, I’ll share my Netflix password with the whole internet if I want, it’s theoakridgeboysdid9/11, have at it guys
— Andy Richter (@AndyRichter) May 24, 2023
