Access denied: Netflix clamps down on password sharing

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It’s not looking great for Netflix freeloaders. Viewers have reported seeing a prompt that warns against password sharing and asks for them to either verify their account or pony up for

another account.

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The message also gives the user access via an email or text verification code, or the option to “verify later.”

As The Hollywood Reporter notes, choosing ‘verify later’ grants the user an “unspecified additional amount of time to continue watching.” The message also gives users the option to sign up

for a new account, with a free 30-day trial.

The test has rolled out to a limited number of users in multiple countries, including in Canada. Netflix has cited security concerns and ensuring its terms of service are followed, which

allows account sharing within the same household, as reasons for the rollout.

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“This test is designed to help ensure that people using Netflix accounts are authorized to do so,” Lindsey Scully, a spokesperson for Netflix Canada, told the Post in an email statement.

A LendingTree survey of 1,500 consumers taken last month showed nearly 4 in 10 Americans say they use a Netflix account that doesn’t belong to them.

Per the website The Streamable, Greg Peters, Chief Product Officer with Netflix, was quoted in October 2019 saying it had “no big plans” to crack down on password sharing.

As movie theatres closed and viewers were stuck at home amid the global pandemic, many turned to streaming services.

As a consequence, Netflix’s revenue surged to 24 per cent year over year in 2020. It reached more than 203 million paid subscribers worldwide, 74 million of those in the U.S. and Canada.

By comparison, it took the company, founded in 1997, until 2017 to cross the 100 million subscriber mark.

While the service added a record 37 million new paid subscribers last year, an increase of 31 per cent year over year, competition has stiffened, with Apple, Disney, NBC, HBO, Paramount, CBS

and Amazon crowding up the streaming field.

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