Share an account and pass it on to friends – is that allowed?
The so-called “account sharing”, ie the sharing of access data among friends and family, is a thorn in the side of many streaming services – meanwhile also Netflix. When you are allowed to share your Netflix account and what is not allowed, you can find out here on GIGA.
For many years, the world’s number 1 video-on-demand service was still very flexible with the topic of account sharing and sometimes made jokes about it itself. But every account that is used by several users meant lost subscriptions for the provider.
This is how you can log out your account from all registered devices from anywhere:
Is account sharing allowed on Netflix?
Yes and no: It depends a little on what you personally understand by account sharing. Netflix offers you the option of creating different profiles and using the service – depending on the subscription level – on multiple devices at the same time.
However, these features are only for a household thought, as Netflix specified in the terms of use of the streaming service in 2018. The following passage can be found under point 4.2:
The Netflix Service and any content viewed through the Service is for your personal and non-commercial use only and may not be shared with people who do not live in the same household. […]
Sharing the Netflix account is therefore only possible with people who live in the same household. Thus, for example, you can ideally use the premium subscription as a family subscription or save your access data on the television of your shared apartment so that all flatmates have access to it. However, sharing the account with friends or family members who do not live in the same household with you is prohibited.
It becomes problematic as soon as you pass on your access data, as according to the Netflix Terms of Use you should actually have access to the devices linked to your account at any time. This is what it says in Section 5 “Passwords and Account Access”:
The Member who created the Netflix Account and whose payment method is charged with membership fees (the “Account Owner”) is responsible for all Netflix Account related activities. To maintain control of the account and prevent unauthorized access […], should the Account holders always have control over the Netflix-compatible devices used to access the service and the Do not pass on your password or account details for the selected payment method to third parties. […]
If a violation of the terms of use is proven, the membership in Netflix can be terminated by the provider without notice. So it says in section 5:
[…] In order to protect you, Netflix or our partners from identity theft or other fraudulent activity, Netflix is authorized to intercept your End your membership or temporarily suspend your account.
Theoretically, claims for damages from Netflix would also be possible in such a case. So far, however, there are no known cases in which the streaming service has requested something like this from users due to lost subscription fees.
The streaming market is big, you can find out what which provider does in the following Video:
First measures against account sharing
Even if Netflix has banned account sharing for several years, words have not been followed by action for a long time. That changed in March 2021: Netflix is currently testing a verification of the account. It is not known exactly how the service works here. However, it is very likely that the IP address will be used to determine whether streaming is unusually frequent from different locations.
Then an authentication code must be entered before streaming, which can be sent to the account holder either by email or SMS. That means more effort, especially when you don’t live in the same household. At the same time, the streaming service encourages you to create your own account.
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