Netflix unveils new rules for legally sharing your account and it’s not going to please everyone

Having become a staple of the legal streaming media landscape around the world, netflix has therefore, without much surprise, made a name for itself in French households with around 10 million users across the country, according to the latest statement by Damien Bernet, director of development for Netflix UK, during the La Rochelle fiction festival which took place from September 13 to 18, 2022. The latter had also raised just after a recurring problem for several years and which costs the platform money, or rather which does not does not report: account sharing. In order to remedy this “problem”, the streaming service will therefore put in place rules, we explain everything to you.

Hard blow for 5 million French people

According to Netflix Help Center information, updated on January 31, the various users will now have to connect to their home’s Wi-Fi network linked to their address in order to register their “trusted” devices at least once every 31 days. “To ensure uninterrupted access to Netflix, connect to the Wi-Fi network associated with your primary address, open the Netflix app or website, and watch a title at least every 31 days. This operation creates trusted devices on which you can watch Netflix even when you are not at your primary address,” the streaming site says. Concretely, this means that people with access to your Netflix account will no longer be able to access it if they do not connect at least once a month to your Internet box.

Indeed, beyond this 31-day period, if the device does not reconnect to the home Wi-Fi network, it will automatically be considered as no longer being a trusted device and connection to the account will be impossible. . Don’t worry, however, if you’re away from home for an extended period as netflix found the miracle solution: sending a temporary code valid for 7 days. A solution that is in short “practical” in the short term but unsuitable in the long term because of its short duration.

For now, and contrary to the tests carried out in South America, Netflix does not plan to charge additional fees to its users in the event of use contrary to its new rules. The platform seems to want to wait until spring 2023 before offering a paid option allowing its members to share their identifiers with people outside their household. This option should obviously be less expensive than a classic subscription in order to encourage its users to subscribe to it rather than unsubscribe.