Netflix will charge users who share passwords more

If you want to share your Netflix password with people outside your household, users will need an extra fee. This is the company's most recent plan, according to Variety. In this way, the streaming service plans to end the exchange of “illegal” passwords that is causing so many headaches to the platform.

This is what Netflix says in its terms of conditions. In the document, they specify that all content is considered for personal, non-commercial use and should therefore not be shared with anyone who is not a member of their household.

“During Netflix membership, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access the Netflix service and content. Beyond this, no other right, title or interest will be transferred to you. You agree that you will not use the service for public presentations,” Netflix explains in its terms of use.

Three initial countries to make this radical change on Netflix

Initially, Netflix will test its new strategy with users in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru. As explained by the aforementioned medium, the platform will allow subscribers to its service to share their passwords with people outside their homes, “simply and securely”, although they will also have to pay more to do so. This is what Chengyi Long, director of product innovation at Netflix, said.

Then Netflix will enable a new feature in the regions mentioned to “add additional members”. It will be available in the Standard and Premium plans of the service and will allow you to add up to two additional users who do not live in your home.

These people will have their own logins, recommendations, and profiles within Netflix. However, these amenities come with a price increase. According to Variety, the additional cost per new user will be CLP 2,380 for Chile, USD$2.99 for Costa Rica and PEN S/. 7.9 for Peru.

This feature will be available in all three regions over the next few weeks. However, it is not yet known whether it will eventually expand outside these regions during the trial period.

Netflix mentions that this practice prevents it from creating content

Netflix doesn't settle for the habit of sharing users' passwords with people outside the core of their household. “We've always made it easy for people who live together to share their Netflix account, with features like separate profiles and multiple streams on our Standard and Premium plans.” Long said in a private statement. However, he believes that these practices have led users to misunderstand the purpose of this feature.

“Although they have been very popular, they have also created some confusion about when and how Netflix can be shared. As a result, accounts are being shared between households, which affects our ability to invest in great new movies and TV shows for our members,” said Chengyi Long.

Netflix bets on this new measure, but it doesn't seem to be definitive

Over the next few weeks, Netflix users in any of these three markets will receive a notification. In this document, the company will notify customers who share their passwords about the new feature.

In case someone decides to share their login information for the first time after setting up the feature, Netflix may ask users to verify their account. This process will be done through a verification code.

However, it is not known whether the changes will be permanent. Long commented in his post: “We will be working to understand the usefulness of these two features for subscribers in these three countries before we make changes anywhere else in the world.” Because of this, depending on the result, you could see a major implementation of the new feature, or a definitive pause.

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