After a ‘mistaken’ announcement and massive backlash, Netflix amends its rules on password sharing once again. Netflix is one of the most grossing and popular streaming platforms to ever exist. Their previous news on the revokement of password sharing was not met with good graces in the public. Talking about implementing such outrageous rules & then revoking them has given rise to mild confusion in public.
Having over 225 million users, Netflix is much loved by the masses and it’s almost a household name at this point. In December 2022, Netflix announced that they have been planning to charge users extra if users used to share their logins. The majority of Netflix users rely on password sharing – friends sharing the same channel or a joint family sharing the same channel. This was precisely one of the attributes that made Netflix so popular & desirable. After meeting with tremendous backlash, Netflix decided on revoking such ‘outrageous plans’ on February 2nd, claiming it was a “mistake announcement” on their part.
The updated news states that consumers will get to set a primary home location, but the streaming platform will still be accessible on their personal device or a new TV on suppose a vacation. When it comes to additional viewers living outside the given residence, the consumer can buy two additional logins for $5.95 per profile. Per Netflix, they have been experimenting with said protocols in Latin America for the past year & will start the same with Canadian, New Zealand, Portugal & Spanish customers to see how the new protocols are met with people.
As per Netflix’s statistics, about 100 million households have been sharing the accounts & this password-sharing ability is apparently affecting Netflix’s ability to produce new movies and or series. Other uprated updates include profile transfers, which allow users on shared profiles to move their shared profiles to their own successive accounts in order to subscribe to Netflix on their own. Additionally, as part of the update, subscribers can now control who is using their account.
The anti-password sharing measures have drawn a lot of criticism ever since Netflix first disclosed its plans, and the most recent update hasn’t been received any better. One of the major problems with Netflix’s original plans was that it stated that each Netflix account would be linked to one household and one household WiFi, which would inhibit anyone from accessing their account while on vacation or in another location. The criticism still notes that it does not take into account families that are split up, such as individuals who are deployed for military service, or who have children living away from the home, despite the fact that this update may be corrective.
A while back, Netflix came under fire for a 2017 tweet that said, “Love is sharing a password.” Ever since the company has made a significant backpedalling. Uncertainties remain regarding the extent to which Netflix’s password-sharing policies will impact the company given that only some longtime subscribers have abruptly terminated their Netflix subscriptions and switched entirely to other streaming services. There is still a chance that Netflix’s policies will alter once more because the update also stated that Netflix may modify the features based on user feedback.
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