Netflix Accidentally Publicized Their Guidelines On Preventing Account Sharing

It’s been no secret that Netflix has been planning on banning account sharing, after years of them turning a blind eye and even making jokes about password sharing being a sign of true love. However, those days are behind us, and Netflix announced that soon it will crack down on sharing accounts even between family members that do not live together.

While they announced that they will be doing this, they did not officially announce how exactly they will be going about this change. However, they accidentally shared the guidelines in the FAQ section. They initially only wanted to share these guidelines for a trial in Chile, but they were published in the U.S. as well as other countries.

Netflix will only allow sharing between family members that live in the same household. This will be verified by checking device location and this might include prompts when devices are not at their home Wifi connections.

The company shared in the guidelines, which have since been removed, that: “When a device outside of your household signs in to an account or is used persistently, we may ask you to verify that device before it can be used to watch Netflix or switch your Netflix household. We do this to confirm that the device using the account is authorized to do so.”

The trial guidelines will also prompt any users that have not logged into their account in over 31 days. You might think, but wait, what about when I’m using Netflix while I’m traveling? Well, it will mean that you must log into your Netflix account at your home Wifi before traveling and leaving the area.

It does not sound like the actual verification process is too difficult, but it does sound like something that’s annoying to deal with when you are traveling. The user will receive an email from Netflix with a 4-digit verification code to the account owner. Then, whoever wants to log into the device will enter the verification code within 15 minutes.

As of now, it’s not clear if the company will go through this verification process of not. They shared a statement on the situation that explained:  “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. We have since updated it.”

For any Netflix users that are sharing passwords that would like to keep their profiles if they need to start paying for their own accounts, the company has provided instructions on how to do so. You’ll be able to transfer your account completely over so you won’t lose any of you watch history and “watch later” list.