Netflix's password-sharing test is making user confused

NEW DELHI: A Netflix experiment to crack down on password sharing outside of households has left users flummoxed, as the streaming giant increased subscription fee for such users, forcing some of them to cancel their subscriptions.

In March, Netflix quietly rolled out an experiment among customers in three small markets in Latin America, asking them to pay extra when sharing their account passwords outside their homes.

The streaming giant announced the new password-sharing policy in Peru, Chile, and Costa Rica.

According to global tech news site Rest of World, for some Netflix users, the price increase has been enough to convince them to cancel their accounts outright.

“Others continue to share their accounts across households without any notification of the policy change or have ignored the new rule without facing enforcement,” the report said.

Overall, the lack of clarity around how Netflix determines a “household” and the differing charges levied on different customers have left subscribers in the test confused, “risking action from consumer regulators”.

As the OTT platforms witness a surge in subscriptions amid the pandemic, the problem of password sharing has also grown and resulted in stalled user growth for several players.

The major OTT giants, including Netflix, are working relentlessly to fix the problem of password sharing.

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