Netflix begins global crackdown on password sharing, affecting Czech users

Streaming service Netflix has now begun to crack down on password sharing in the U.S. and other international markets – including Czechia. Netflix wants to stop people who live in separate households from sharing passwords. The company writes on its official website that more than 100 million households worldwide have supplied their log-in credentials to friends and family outside their homes.

Under the new rules, subscribers will have to either kick non-household members off their Netflix account or pay a monthly fee to "keep" them. Standard plan users can add one extra member whereas premium plan users can add two.

The newly added extra members can stream and download on only one device at a time (instead of multiple devices, which the standard and premium plans allow). Accounts will still be able to have five profiles. Netflix has made clear that household members will still be able to use the streaming service when outside of their home, for example when traveling. Full information on the change can be found here.

In Czechia, the cost of adding an additional (non-household) person to an account will be CZK 79 per month. The “password-sharing ban” is already underway in the U.S. and Australia, and is expected to reach Czechia in the coming months. Users in the country have not yet received an email detailing the change.

According to the streaming giant, it will use information such as IP addresses, device IDs, and account activity to determine whether the people watching are part of the same household, the Evening Standard describes. The crackdown on sharing was tested in some Latin American countries earlier this year.

Although in sound financial shape, the firm's revenue has recently been declining. Netflix’s annual net income for 2022 was around USD 4.5 billion, a 12.2-percent decline from 2021. The company aims to boost its profits after facing competition from the likes of HBO Max and Disney+. 

At the end of the first quarter of 2023, Netflix had a total global subscriber count of 232.5 million. In 2020, this figure stood at less than 200 million. Netflix has a dominant foothold in the Czech streaming industry – it remains to be seen whether the end of password sharing will affect its current position.