Netflix has started trialing its new system against password sharing in three Latin American countries, but the plan is not succeeding.
The streaming giant is now testing its new crackdown on people who share their passwords in Costa Rica, Peru, and Chile.
The stricter enforcement policy prevents users from sharing passwords with anyone outside their household and requires subscribers to pay a monthly fee equivalent to $2-3 in local currency to add an additional account for a family member, Netflix announced.
However, users say the messages about the policy change and the “household” definition under the new system are confusing and limiting.
Rest of World’s survey of over a dozen Netflix subscribers showed that consumers do not understand how the streaming service defines the term “household.” Respondents also said the company was not enforcing the new rules.
A Netflix representative quoted by Rest of World said some consumers thought the new policy allowed any member of the account holder’s immediate family to obtain the passwords but clarified that the company defines a “household” as people who live in the same physical domicile.
Also, a representative for the streaming service told Insider: “While we started working on paid sharing over 18 months ago, we have been clear for five years that ‘A Netflix account is for people who live together in a single household’.”
But Netflix has faced resistance from state agencies in all three Latin American countries over the policy.
Insider reported that the National Institute For The Defense Of Free Competition And The Protection Of Intellectual Property and Peru’s Consumer Agency told the company that its new policy could be considered an arbitrary way of discrimination against its users.
Both agencies also recommended the streaming service provider take additional steps to help consumers understand the new system.
“The millions of members who are actively sharing an account in these countries have been notified by email but given the importance of this change, we are ramping up in-product notifications more slowly. We’re pleased with the response to date,” Netflix’s spokesman stated.
