Sharing your Netflix logins with someone outside your household for free may soon be obsolete.
The streaming company revealed Wednesday that it will begin testing ways to have users who share an account with someone outside their family pay for the additional members in a news release posted to its website.
“We’ve always made it easy for people who live together to share their Netflix account, with features like separate profiles and multiple streams in our Standard and Premium plans,” the company said in a statement. “While these have been hugely popular, they have also created some confusion about when and how Netflix can be shared.”
Netflix’s “ability to invest in great new TV and films for our members” has been harmed as a result of improper account sharing outside the household, according to the company.
According to the company’s terms of service, an account “may not be shared with persons outside of your household,” a regulation that many customers disregard.
Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru will be the first countries to test new tariffs for “adding an extra member” on ordinary and premium plans.
“We recognize that people have many entertainment choices, so we want to ensure any new features are flexible and useful for members, whose subscriptions fund all our great TV and films,” Netflix said. “We’ll be working to understand the utility of these two features for members in these three countries before making changes anywhere else in the world.”
Those who have been sharing passwords illegally in those three countries will now transfer their profile information to new accounts or “extra member” subscriber accounts.