The broadcast of the Netflix TV colossus on Friday was mixed with a stricter application of its rule for sharing passwords with people living elsewhere, according to reports in the American media.
Some Netflix users who apparently eavesdropped on other people’s accounts turned to Twitter to share news of apparent repression, along with posts of a notice telling them they must be subscribers to continue watching the service.
Netflix includes an offer to try the service for free for 30 days, according to a copy posted on Twitter.
“Oh no, Netflix is doing the cleanup?” the Twitter user wrote in the post.
Netflix offers to check who is trying to log in to the account by sending a code via text message or email to the subscriber to confirm that the user lives with them.
“This test is designed to help ensure that people who use Netflix accounts are authorized to do so,” a Netflix spokesman was quoted as saying by US media, including The Streamable.
It was not certain that the user account verification test would turn into suppression of password sharing in the service.
Nearly a third of subscribers to TV streaming services such as Netflix share their passwords with people who do not live with them, according to a study last year by consulting firm Magid.
The practice has long been tolerated by California-based Netflix, which said guardrails have been introduced to prevent extreme password abuse.
People left at home due to the pandemic have turned to the internet for entertainment from streaming TV to online video games.
By the end of last year, Netflix had strengthened its leadership position in video sharing by handing over 200 million paid subscribers worldwide for the first time.
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