Netflix's Password-Sharing Crackdown Finally Hits The US, Here's What It Means

Netflix has officially begun seriously cracking down on password-sharing in the US. Today, May 23, the company began to send emails to Netflix account owners who are sharing their membership with people outside their home to inform them that people will have to pay up.

Netflix said in a blog post, "A Netflix account is for use by one household."

If the account owner is feeling generous, they can spend $8/month on top of their existing membership to keep any non-paying people on their account. If not, anyone benefitting from password-sharing will have to sign up for their own account or move on.

For those who do decide to get their own account, Netflix offers a profile-transfer feature that carries over personalized content like lists and recommendations.

A reported 100 million Netflix accounts globally share passwords, so Netflix cracking down on this by charging members more to add sub-accounts or pushing people to create new accounts could end up amounting to a very sizable chunk of change. Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said during an earnings briefing that some people using a shared account are watching as much as the main account owner, and have a "very strong likelihood" of converting to a paid account.

You can see the full email that Netflix is sending out below, as shared by Netflix.

Netflix's password-sharing crackdown has been a long time coming, and these changes were already made in various other countries and regions around the world before the US.

Netflix memberships in the US start at $7/month for a plan with ads, $10/month for the Basic plan with no ads, $15.50/month for the Standard plan, and $20/month for the Premium plan.

In other Netflix news, the company is finally closing its DVD-by-mail service at the end of September 2023.