Brynna Stilwell

On Wednesday, Netflix accidentally shared information regarding new password-sharing policies on their help center page. Once the information was discovered, the internet went into a mass frenzy of questions.

The response seems to be completely negative, with good reason. Not only did the help center state that a user’s account is only accessible from one IP address, the user has to access the account at least once every 31 days. What’s worse, if they plan to travel, and still want to use their account, they have to notify Netflix with their travel plans in order to still have access.

This has sparked outrage as users on Twitter began expressing their concerns. Multiple tweets with hundreds of thousands of likes and millions of views have gone viral, making fun of the policies and predicting the downfall of Netflix.

Netflix is currently testing the policy in Chile, Peru, and Costa Rica. They are attempting to implement a “paid-sharing” policy, where users can pay an additional fee to enable multiple devices across multiple IP addresses for one account. Users are questioning the effectiveness of this policy, questioning if it’s fair to charge extra for specific circumstances. A popular question is how it will apply to students living in college dorms while still being supported by their parents. Another concern is having to inform Netflix of travel plans, with users stating that the only time they’ve ever had to inform a company of travel plans is credit card companies to prevent fraud.

With paid-sharing, users that are not connected to the verified IP address will be asked to enter a pin number, which they will have 15 minutes to input. The pin will be sent to the owner of the account. This way, no one is able to access the accounts of users they are not in contact with.

Many Netflix users have said that once the policies are officially implemented, they may cancel their accounts rather than attempting to deal with the new policies. Netflix continues to cancel popular shows, their selection of non-Netflix produced content is continuing to diminish, and there are other streaming sites that are not blaming their customers for low profits.

A Netflix representative said that by password-sharing, users are “undermining our long-term ability to invest in and improve Netflix.”

A tweet that Netflix posted in 2017 has also gained attention recently. In the tweet, Netflix said “love is sharing a password.” Twitter users have been using this tweet to call out Netflix on the hypocrisy of the new password-sharing policy.

Rather than doing customer research to find ways to actually boost sales and encourage new users to join, Netflix seems to be taking steps backwards. They should be providing incentives to encourage people to get their own accounts rather than password-sharing, but they are being stubborn. The new policy may have the opposite effect than what they’re hoping for, and they may become just like the movie rental company that they put out of business in the first place.

The policy is expected to begin by the end of March, according to a letter sent to shareholders in January. Netflix executives said that they’re expecting some negative response to the new policy, comparing it to when they’ve raised prices in the past. However, thousands of users are expecting this decision to cause Netflix to experience a massive hit in profits and force the company to get rid of the policy altogether.