Things We Saw Today: Netflix Is Trying To Ruin Itself by Testing Out Bans on Password Sharing

After recently raising prices yet again, Netflix is continuing its parade of unpopular ideas by testing out limitations on password-sharing.

The streaming platform says that over the next few weeks, in a few test markets (Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru, for now), users will be given the option to add “sub accounts” for up to two people outside of their household. Yes, not only is Netflix making you stop sharing your password with friends, but it’s making you choose which friends can remain, for a reduced price. (I’m also imagining all the parents of more than two adult children still mooching off their password supply who are going to have to figure out how to navigate some awkward family dinners.)

Netflix is choosing to present this option to pay to share your password as a new feature, rather than a restriction being implemented. And technically, it is, since sharing passwords with people in different households is already a violation of Netflix’s terms of service—although most users probably don’t even know that or, if they do, they don’t take it very seriously. As Mashable notes, “The mostly unregulated practice of account sharing has, up until this point, practically defined Netflix and its streaming competitors.”

Netflix hasn’t given any indication as to whether they plan to expand this restriction beyond those initial test markets, but if they do, it could definitely make for some uncomfortable dynamics within families and friendships.

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What did you all see out there today?

(featured image: Netflix)