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Netflix is making some drastic changes to the popular streaming platform. It has been announced that password sharing will come to an end by the end of March of this year, as detailed by a letter to shareholders.
“If you’re watching on a TV, it’ll provide exactly where you are,” an insider told CBS. “They only want people in your household, at your address, watching.” The company uses “IP addresses, device IDs, and account activity from devices signed into the Netflix account” to make sure all the devices being used are in the same household.
The streaming service had previously announced that a new policy would be implemented, referring to subscribers currently sharing their passwords, however a specific date or details about the new paid sharing system were not revealed to the public at the time.
“Today’s widespread account sharing (100M+ households) undermines our long term ability to invest in and improve Netflix, as well as build our business,” Netflix shared with shareholders. “While our terms of use limit use of Netflix to a household, we recognize this is a change for members who share their account more broadly.”
Netflix also said there would be a series of new features on the platform. “We’ve worked hard to build additional new features that improve the Netflix experience, including the ability for members to review which devices are using their account and to transfer a profile to a new account.”
And while the platform is aware that implementing the new policy will cause a negative impact, with many users being unable to access and actively use a free Netflix account, they also assured to shareholders that engagement will grow “over time,” as they “continued to deliver a great slate of programming and borrowers sign-up to their own accounts.”