Subscribers to the digital streaming service Netflix have started receiving emails that they need to start paying up in order to continue sharing their account with their friends.
“A Netflix account is for you and the people you live with – your household,” reads the email sent by the company.
Individuals who form part of the same household will be allowed to continue sharing their account. However, if the two individuals live in different places then their fortunes have run out.
In February, it was revealed that the company would track IP addresses and device IDs to know whether the people making use of the account live in the same household.
If two individuals not living together still want to share the account they have, then they’ll have to pay either €3.99 or €4.99 a month.
How much subscribers based in Malta will have to pay is not yet revealed, as at time of writing, in Europe, only individuals based in the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Norway have been informed of the change.
The company claimed that over 100 million subscribers engage in password sharing, resulting in millions of lost revenues and subscribers. While it is unlikely that everyone sharing accounts will opt to pay more to continue using the platform, it already gained an additional 1.75 million new subscribers during the first quarter of 2023.
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