Netflix starts crimping its customers’ passwords

SOON, gone will be the days of sharing a Netflix account.

In a controversial move the streaming giant has planned to axe password sharing within the next few months.

A blog post from one of Netflix’s corporate boffins said only one household will be allowed to use a single Netflix account. If users want to add another household, they’ll have to fork out an additional monthly fee.

That means time’s almost up for friend groups who all share the account of that one good samaritan who gives out their password, or anyone still making use of an ex’s profile unnoticed. Better make the most of it while there’s still time.

The streaming giant has clued on to the fact that this move isn’t going to go down well, saying there’ll be a bit of “cancel reaction” to the decision.

No kidding. Many are already fed up with Netflix after multiple price hikes and the platform announcing its plan to introduce ads. The loss of password sharing will be the final straw on the camel’s back for many a streamer.

“Netflix literally sabotaging themselves... it’s incredible”, said one cranky Twitter user to the news.

“I’ll just go back to YouTube then”, said another.

“They lame for this”, eloquently declared a third.

It’s a ballsy move from the platform given a tumultuous 2022.

Last year Netflix recorded its first loss of platform, plunging the company’s share price. many more all bit the dust in 2022 to many fans’ ire.

Like their price increases and plan to introduce ads, the move to get rid of password sharing seems to be a desperate attempt to secure their bottom line. The Netflix higher-ups estimate locking accounts down to one household will result in more than 700 million bucks in revenue in the long term.

Adding to the platform’s woes is the controversy of its serial cancelling of shows.

The most recent series to fall under the axe is “1899”, the German sci-fi thriller from the creators of the cult hit “Dark”.

“We would have loved to finish this incredible journey with a second and third season as we did with ‘Dark’,” showrunners Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese sadly expressed on Instagram.

“But sometimes things don’t turn out the way you planned.” it into the top 10 most watched series on its debut. It wasn’t even given a chance to grow a fanbase and, after what bo Odar and Friese managed to pull off with “Dark”, they deserved better.

In its early days Netflix offered an exciting alternative to free-to-air TV in its ability to cater to almost any audience.

Strange and obscure shows such as “1899”, that would never see the light of day on traditional television, were embraced by the platform. It attracted millions of people who thought that no matter what they wanted to watch, they could find it on Netflix.

Now it seems the company is more and more abandoning that approach to storytelling.

How the platform will police its passwordsharing crackdown isn’t quite known yet. Households will still be able to use one Netflix account across multiple devices and Netflix has promised that users will still be able to stream while travelling.

Whatever the plan is, the company is hoping to enforce it by March. How the subscriber base and share price react will be intriguing.

If there’s any silver lining to all this, I guess other people on the same account will no longer be able to see all the embarrassing stuff we’re watching.

Yes, I’ve seen “Too Hot To Handle” in the “continue watching” section of my account. You know who you are.