Netflix’s crackdown on password-sharing in Latin American countries is proving to be a disaster.- Technology News, Firstpost

Mehul DasJun 01, 2022 15:57:08 IST

A few months back, Netflix had announced that it will start cracking down on people who share passwords, in order to make up for falling revenues from losing out customers and not being able to grow at the rate that they had hoped for. 

The streaming giant was also contemplating coming up with a new ad-supported tier that would allow people who find Netflix a bit too expensive to actually join the service.

Well, it seems that Netflix’s plan has backfired.

Netflix began testing two new features in a few Latin and Central America, namely Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru which forces subscribers based in these countries to pay extra if it is found that they have shared account details and passwords with people outside their households.

A report in a notable Chilean business daily has stated that Netflix subscribers in the countries listed above haven’t seen uniform messaging from Netflix. They also aren’t always subject to the same rules. With the new rules being haphazardly implemented and poor programming which makes the additional fees seem less and less valuable, many subscribers have given up their Netflix subscriptions altogether.

Others say that they have continued sharing their accounts with others because Netflix has yet to notify them of the new policy. And there are even some subscribers who have chosen to ignore the policy but have yet to face any consequences.  

Netflix had earlier explained that it defines a “household” as people living in the same building. In other words, it has nothing to do with whether or not you are related to another person. It’s all about being in the same location as everyone else on the account. In spite of this seemingly simple explanation, the new features are causing confusion.

The report also quotes a person from Peru who stated that he shares his account with his girlfriend, brother, and parents. They all live in different locations, but none have been notified of a new policy or an extra charge. Another Netflix subscriber in Peru stated that she shares her account with her friends, saying she did receive a notification about validating their accounts about a month ago. They just ignored the message and have continued to share her account ever since, without any increase in charges.

Not just in India, but globally too, Netflix is one of the costlier streaming services, charging much higher than its competitors. Combine that with an increasingly odd slate of original content, and it’s clear that Netflix has a lot of work to do.