Netflix tries to stop password sharing (or make your ex call you in order to keep watching)

Netflix is testing a new feature, in a effort to limit the practice of password sharing.

There was no official announcement, until reports of users who begun to experience a request for a two-step verification, prompt by a message on the screen that said: “If you don’t live with the owner of this account, you need your own account to keep watching.”

A basic Netflix subscription, which allows customers to watch on one screen at a time, costs $8.99 a month. Customers who pay more can watch on additional screens simultaneously and also have the option of downloading.

The practice of subscribers sharing their passwords with friends and family members has been one of the biggest concerns in the streaming age, and one which Netflix is looking to curb.

The company has confirmed that it is testing the feature, following reports from users on social media. Netflix said that “this test is designed to help ensure that people using Netflix accounts are authorized to do so,” though there is no indication as to whether this will become a permanent feature of the streamer.

While the company’s terms of service say that users of an account must live in the same household, Netflix has in the past had a more carefree attitude. Speaking in 2016, Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings said that “Password sharing is something you have to learn to live with because there’s so much legitimate password sharing, like you sharing with your spouse, with your kids,” and that there were “no plans” to crack down on it.

Apparently now, despite the pandemic pushing up the demand for in-house streaming services and the revenues of Netflix, especially in Europe, the company has started feeling the intensity of the competition and are trying to minimize the lost income from password sharing.