Disney follows Netflix in new password sharing crackdown

Now I’m not saying we’re all that friend, but you know, we all have that friend who uses their mum’s, or their ex’s, or their neighbour’s hairdresser’s cousin’s log-in for streaming.

But when sites like Netflix started cracking down on password sharing, it caused that friend a bit of a nightmare.

I mean, let’s be real, a lot of us share streaming accounts with mates and family but the crackdown last year put an end to some of that.

And now, Disney Plus is starting to follow in Netflix’s footsteps.

Last year’s tightening up of password sharing meant customers couldn’t share their account outside of their household and were granted features like ‘transfer a profile’ or ‘buy an extra member’ for £4.99 a month.

Turns out this crackdown was actually pretty successful for Netflix, leading to a big boost in subscribers, reportedly gaining 13 million new ones at the end of 2023.

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With that success comes setting a trend - unfortunately for some of us.

Disney CEO Bob Iger stated back in August 2023 that it was looking at ‘ways to address account sharing’ and that it would ‘roll out strategies to drive monetisation sometime in 2024’.

Then, Variety reports that customers in Canada were notified that the crackdown would begin on 1 November, 2023.

An exact date for us Brits and users in the US wasn’t given but it does seem like it's only a matter of time.

LADbible has contacted Disney+ for comment.

CNN reports that (Disney-owned service) Hulu subscribers in the US were warned in an email earlier this week that it would start cracking down on account sharing outside of households in March.

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Hulu is sometimes sold as a bundle with Disney+ and ESPN+ subscriptions but as Tech Advisor reports, it’s not quite clear yet if the Disney+ customers will be impacted.

If Disney cracks down in the same way as Netflix, IP addresses, device IDs and account activity will be used to pinpoint where the primary account holder is based - determining the ‘household’. Other users will then get blocked from streaming.

The message to Canadians back in November said Disney will ‘limit or terminate access to the service and/or take any other steps as permitted by this agreement'.

With Iger’s statement in the summer and the gradual rollout of these emails, it does seem like we could be looking to start receiving the same messages in the UK at some point.

The beginning of the end could be upon us, stream smart lads.