Netflix is thinking about charging you extra for sharing your account

With how expensive Netflix has gotten, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that many of its customers share accounts with other users.According to some estimates, 15% of Netflix streamers are actually borrowing a friend’s password to watch the latest binge-worthy original. The company has recently been taking steps tocrack down on shared accountsoutside of a single household, and it seems like the free ride might be coming to an end.

Forgot your password?

Create an account

*Required: 8 chars, 1 capital letter, 1 number

By continuing, you agree to thePrivacy PolicyandTerms of Use.You also agree to receive our newsletters, you could opt-out any time.

Basically, both of these features make it easier for you to move to an account you’re going to pay for, probably as preparation for a rougher crackdown on shared logins/passwords. Around a year ago, post-login screens started appearing for some users telling them they needed to live with the account owner to use the service. While these new region-locked features are unlikely to make much of a dent in the current situation, it’s likely the first move to further restrict access to its content through shared logins in the coming months.

Sharing passwords has always been against its terms of service — against section 4.2, to be precise — but the company had never actually made a serious effort to enforce it. That might be about to change.

netflix-generic-hero