Netflix cracks down on password sharing

Netflix Inc is testing a feature that asks viewers to verify they share a household with the account holder, the company said on Thursday, a move that could lead to a clampdown on sharing of passwords.

A small number of Netflix users are receiving a message asking them to confirm they live with the account owner by entering details from a text message or email sent to the owner, Reuters reported.

The prompt reads, “Is this your account? If you don’t live with the owner of this account, you need your own account to keep watching.”

Viewers can delay the verification and keep watching Netflix. The message may however reappear when they open Netflix again, and eventually they could be required to open a new account to continue streaming.

“This test is designed to help ensure that people using Netflix accounts are authorized to do so,” a Netflix spokesperson said.

The Netflix terms of service say that users of an account must live in the same household, though the company and other streaming services have declined to broadly crack down on sharing.