Don’t call it a crackdown just yet, but Netflix is testing a new way to keep password sharing under control. In a screenshot shared on Twitter this week, Netflix appeared to seek extra verification before letting users into the app, offering to send a one-time passcode to the account holder via email or text message. The prompt also showed an option to “verify later.” O no. Netflix doing the purge?!? pic.twitter.com/XXlHtfgfsy — chante most (@DOP3Sweet) March 9, 2021 “If you don’t live with the owner of this account, you need your own account to keep watching,” the message said, while offering a 30-day trial. Netflix confirmed the test’s authenticity to streaming news site The Streamable but offered few additional details. “This test is designed to help ensure that people using Netflix accounts are authorized to do so,” a spokesperson said. Is a crackdown coming? Netflix’s overall posture toward password sharing has stiffened in recent years as subscriber growth has slowed down. Although Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings once referred to password sharing as “something you have to learn to live with,” chief product officer Greg Peters said in 2019 that the company was looking at “consumer-friendly ways to push on the edges” of password sharing as it monitored the situation. But in lieu of more information, it’s hard to say how drastic a measure this might be. Netflix has not answered additional questions about what type of usage would trigger the test or what happens if users ignore the verification prompts. (We’ll update this story if we hear back.) Media companies in general have been extremely wary about cracking down on password sharing in a draconian way
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Netflix is asking some users to prove they’re not sharing passwords