Details of Netflix’s Password Sharing Crackdown Released

Additional information about Netflix’s efforts to prevent members from sharing passwords outside their homes has been revealed.

The streaming giant’s help center “Share your Netflix account” pages for Costa Rica, Chile and Peru said Wednesday that “anyone in your household (those who live with you at your primary location)” can use a Netflix account.

Those who are not part of what Netflix considers a household will need to create their own account. Or the owner of the account used by strangers can add them as an “additional member”, according to these web pages.

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The cost of adding an “additional member” to an account with a standard or premium plan is “less than the price of [Netflix’s] basic plan,” the help center pages for all three countries add. This additional monthly fee will be billed to the person whose account is added to the “additional member”.

“When someone signs in to your account from a device that is not part of your primary location, or if your account is persistently viewed from another location, that device may be blocked from watching Netflix,” the website also says.

To detect devices tied to an account’s primary location, the company said it uses IP addresses, device IDs, and account activity.

In this iIllustration photo, the Netflix logo is seen on an iPhone screen in front of a computer screen displaying a Netflix logo on February 13, 2019, in Paris. (Chesnot/Getty Images/Getty Images)

Linking a device to a primary location involves “connecting[ing] to your primary location’s Wi-Fi, open[ing] the Netflix app or website and watch[ing] something at least once every 31 days,” the Help Center page for Costa Rica said. These so-called “trusted devices” allow users to stream content on Netflix when they are away from the primary location.

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People can still use the streaming service when traveling or living “between different locations” by using a temporary passcode or updating an account’s primary location.

A man presses the Netflix button on a television remote on March 6, 2020. (Phil Barker/Future Publishing via Getty Images/Getty Images)

Netflix said in a January 19 letter to shareholders that more than 100 million households have engaged in account sharing, which it says “undermines our long-term ability to invest in and improve Netflix, as well as to grow our business.” The company expects the new paid sharing system to launch “more widely” in the first quarter of 2023, it also said.

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“Short-term engagement,” Netflix said, could see negative impacts as the company expands the paid sharing system and some users choose to quit instead of creating their own accounts or becoming an “additional member.” “. However, the company said it expects engagement to increase “over time.”

The total number of Netflix subscribers stood at 230.75 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to 221.84 million at the same period in 2021.