Netflix May Soon Crack Down on Password Sharing

Netflix may be cracking down on those who share passwords between separate households, according to a test found by The Streamable. Some Netflix subscribers have been getting a message about not living with the account holder when attempting to stream content.

"If you don't live with the owner of this account, you need your own account to keep watching," reads the warning message. From there, users are prompted to verify the account with an email or text verification code, or to sign up for a separate Netflix account.

Netflix told The Streamable that the test is "designed to help ensure that people using Netflix accounts are authorized to do so." It's not clear if the warning is popping up based on IP address or another metric.

Netflix's terms of service do prohibit subscribers from sharing their passwords with people outside of their households, but many people do so anyway. Back in 2020, Netflix chief product officer Greg Peters told The Wall Street Journal that Netflix monitors password sharing, but at the time, had no plans to announce on the topic.

There are built-in limits to the number of devices that can simultaneously stream content from Netflix. The $8.99 basic plan is limits streaming to a single device, while the $13.99 standard plan allows for streaming on two devices. The $17.99 plan allows for streaming on up to four devices.