Now the entire world has to deal with Netflix’s most controversial policy.
Per TechCrunch, Netflix has expanded its crackdown on password sharing to places like India and Croatia, blanketing the entire planet (or at least the parts of it that get Netflix) with a rule change that’s been ruffling feathers ever since it was announced late last year. Anyone who is using another person’s account in one of those countries will now have to create their own account and pony up some cash every month to keep watching Netflix.
Netflix tested this policy in select markets in late 2022 before expanding it to the U.S. (among others) in May. In the U.S., subscribers can pay an extra fee each month to add profiles for people outside the account holder’s home. In these new markets like India, those extra users will have to create their own accounts instead, which Netflix attributes to low existing penetration in those places, according to TechCrunch.
As annoying as the new policy might be, Netflix has seen positive returns after its implementation. The company added nearly six million new subscribers in the last three months, at least some of which were presumably using a friend’s account beforehand. Whether or not those people choose to stay long-term remains to be seen.
Maybe Netflix can give writers and actors the residuals they deserve with all that extra money.
