Netflix Clarifies New Password-Sharing Household Rules

Netflix has dropped some new clarifications about their password sharing rules. In a new social media post, the streamer laid out the framework for how they're looking to move forward. For interested parties, it seems that the definition of a "household" is going to be key. Basically, there will be a home base location and the people outside of there might be out of luck in certain territories. Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain are all encouraged to add extra membership sub accounts for the people outside of their "household." In the United States, nothing has been announced yet. But, this is an expansion of policies that were first utilized in Latin America. Read what they have to say right here.

The company began, "We value our members and recognize that they have many entertainment choices. A Netflix account is intended for one household and members can choose from a range of plans with different features (see chart below). As always, we'll refine these new features based on member feedback so that we continue to improve Netflix in the years ahead."

We know there’s been a lot of confusion about sharing Netflix.

A Netflix account is intended for one household, so we’re rolling out new features in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, and Spain (and more broadly in the coming months) to give you more control over your account...

— Netflix (@netflix) February 8, 2023

"We've always made it easy for people who live together to share their Netflix account with features like profiles and multiple streams. While these have been hugely popular, they've also created confusion about when and how you can share Netflix. Today, over 100 million households are sharing accounts — impacting our ability to invest in great new TV and films," they added. "So over the last year, we've been exploring different approaches to address this issue in Latin America, and we're now ready to roll them out more broadly in the coming months, starting today in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain. Our focus has been on giving  members greater control over who can access their account." 

Netflix Walks Back Their Account Policies

At first, "password sharing" was going to end in March 2023. But, after public outrage, it seems that Netflix reported that the information was shared prematurely. Check out what they said last year.

"We've landed on a thoughtful approach to monetize account sharing and we'll begin rolling this out more broadly starting in early 2023," Netflix wrote in a quarterly statement. "After listening to consumer feedback, we are going to offer the ability for borrowers to transfer their Netflix profile into their own account, and for sharers to manage their devices more easily and to create sub-accounts ('extra member'), if they want to pay for family or friends. In countries with our lower-priced ad-supported plan, we expect the profile transfer option for borrowers to be especially popular."

Does this worry you? Let us know down in the comments!