Netflix has finally disclosed information regarding its efforts to prevent individuals from sharing their family plan passwords, which is against its terms of service and causing harm to its overall revenue. To note, this information has not been confirmed by the streaming giant, but overall highlights the corporation’s plans to boost revenues by ensuring all its users pay for the service, and freeloaders are finally kicked out of the platform.
The streaming service has since revised its Help Center to state that only accounts within a single household can be shared. To guarantee that devices are linked to the main location, Netflix will require users to connect to Wi-Fi at least once every 31 days. How will this work? Well, the platform believes that freeloaders will get exhausted from performing these reconnections or requesting passwords from time to time in a bid to encourage them to purchase their own plans.
“Netflix accounts are still shareable, but only within one household. To ensure that your devices are associated with your primary location, Netflix is now asking users to connect to the Wi-Fi at your primary location, open the Netflix app or website, and watch something at least once every 31 days,” said Netflix.
The information showed that users who abuse the system by sharing passwords can transfer their profile information, including preferences, likes, dislikes, and other personal data, to a new account without losing any of it.
To use Netflix on a device that is not at home, users will need to request a temporary code for logging in, granting access to the account for seven days. These details are not accessible in markets outside of the United States and Canada, indicating that Netflix may initially only implement this change in the North American region.
“Signing into Netflix outside of your home may lead to the device in use being blocked from Netflix. This could prevent you from signing into new devices while traveling, but Netflix has devised a workaround. Traveling users who want to use Netflix on a hotel smart TV, company laptop, etc. can request a temporary code from the service when signing in. This will give them access to their account for seven consecutive days,” added Netflix.
A few days ago, Netflix announced Reed Hastings, the co-founder, and its CEO for 25 years, would step down from his role in a leadership change at the top of the corporation.
Greg Peters, the Chief Operating Officer, was promoted to the role of co-CEO alongside Ted Sarandos.
