Netflix’s Attempt At Putting An End To Password Sharing Is Already Going Very Poorly

Earlier this week, Netflix outlined how it plans to prevent password sharing using IP addresses and seven-day codes. It did not go over well. So poorly, The Streamable reports, that the rules have since been deleted, “leading to confusion as to exactly what the world’s largest streamer was planning for its already-announced initiative.”

A Netflix spokesperson said, “For a brief time yesterday, a help center article containing information that is only applicable to Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru, went live in other countries,” including the United States. “We have since updated it.”

The Netflix spokesperson confirmed that if and when the company was to make a change that significant, it would not begin rolling it out without first communicating the details to customers. Over the past year, the service has been testing anti-password-sharing measures in several Latin American countries in an effort to find the best solutions before launching them to subscribers around the world; unfortunately, like the idea of devices being blocked, those tests often resulted in significant pushback from customers.

Netflix is serious about stopping users from password sharing — or at least stopping users from password sharing without an extra fee attached. But when the new guidelines go into effect, possibly as soon as next month, the streamer will be transparent about it.

Yay