This 2017 Netflix Tweet About ‘Sharing A Password’ Hasn’t Aged Well For Sure

Netflix plans to test a new feature that will charge account holders an additional fee if they want to share access with those outside their household.

New Delhi: Exactly five years ago, Netflix shared a couple of tweets on ‘love’, and one of them said it is like “sharing a password”.

It held true to the video streaming platform as it has been a regular practice among Netflix users to share access (read passwords) and split up the fee. 

However, the innocuous March 11, 2017 tweet has come back to haunt Netflix as it now plans to test a new feature that will charge account holders an additional fee if they want to share access with those outside their household.

"...for the last year we’ve been working on ways to enable members who share outside their household to do so easily and securely, while also paying a bit more," Netflix said earlier this month. 

Netflix allows one user to stream its content on multiple devices. While the OTT platform’s terms of service mentions that this access “may not be shared with individuals beyond your household”, the practice had been common since its launch.

With Netflix finally deciding to stop this, the old tweet is seeing high traction again as people are saying it “didn’t age well”.

In a recent blog post, Netflix said they will launch and test two new features in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru over the coming weeks.

The first feature will let standard and premium plans users add an extra member or ‘sub accounts’ for up to two people they don’t live with — “each with their own profile, personalized recommendations, login and password”. 

The second feature will allow members on basic, standard, and premium plans, who share their account, to transfer profile information either to a new account or an ‘Extra Member sub account’, while retaining the viewing history, My List, and all personalised recommendations. 

Giving reasons for the move, Chengyi Long, director of product innovation at Netflix, said in the blog post: “We’ve always made it easy for people who live together to share their Netflix account, with features like separate profiles and multiple streams in our Standard and Premium plans. While these have been hugely popular, they have also created some confusion about when and how Netflix can be shared. As a result, accounts are being shared between households - impacting our ability to invest in great new TV and films for our members.”