Netflix's Crackdown on Password Sharing Is Confusing Subscribers

pcmag.com:

Back in March, Netflix began asking subscribers in Latin America who are sharing their password to pay an additional cost per month to let folks outside their household stream content. However, this experiment in gently cracking down on password sharing has left users confused.

As reported by Rest of World(Opens in a new window), Netflix is running this experiment in Peru, Chile, and Costa Rica, and many subscribers claim they've not received "uniform messaging" about the changes, which appear to differ by region. Some have ignored the new rule without consequence, and those who don't know about the trial simply continue sharing their account. A few subscribers have been driven to cancel their Netflix subscription entirely due to the price increase being too much to afford. The additional charge works out to roughly $2 for two people who live outside of a household.

It's unclear whether Netflix is simply testing different versions of its policy, or hasn't quite settled on the new terms; the company confirmed to Rest of World that different subscribers may pay different fees. The streaming service also acknowledged that some users understand "household" to mean immediate family, but the platform defines the term as people living in the same building.

That lack of clarity over a key term, plus the mixed bag of charges across countries, could result in action from consumer regulators. Even Netflix customer service reps are confused about what to say when asked about the change. The company did not immediately respond to PCMag's request for comment.

A majority of users (64%), according to a March study by Leichtman Research Group, keep their logins to themselves, but 15% share their account with other people. In April,