Share Netflix account
Is it possible to bypass the lock?
Netflix doesn’t like it when users share their accounts with others. Can this blocking be circumvented?
For a long time, Netflix has had a thorn in its side that users share their accounts with friends or family members who do not live in the same household. You are not only violating the terms of use of the streaming service. As a result, the provider also takes in less than one would wish for in Los Gatos, California. The service is therefore now also taking action against the sharing of passwords and accounts in Germany.
Since May 23, Netflix has been asking subscribers in Germany and Austria to register so-called additional members in emails if they share their account with others outside their household. However, this is not exactly cheap, as each additional member costs 4.99 euros per month. Anyone who has booked a “Premium” subscription with two additional members then pays a total of almost 28 euros per month (as of June 2, 2023).
How does Netflix even determine that an account is shared?
Netflix counts all devices in a household that users use in their home and that are connected to the Internet there. If other devices are used at a different location, the provider may ask you to verify them. Netflix wants to use this to verify that the device is an authorized device belonging to the paying customer. According to the streaming service, a mix of IP addresses, device IDs and account activity is used to check whether a device belongs to the household. The service therefore does not collect GPS data to determine the exact location.
Can Netflix ban me if I share an account?
If you share your access with others outside the household without paying extra, you obviously don’t have to worry about the main account being blocked – even if this violates the terms of use. The streaming service has confirmed to the IT portal “golem.de”.that customers who have subscribed to the service should face “no termination or any other form of consequence”.
Anyone who accesses the account from a household other than the main household will be informed that either an additional member must be created or their own account must be created. According to “golem.de”, Netflix has emphasized that nobody should be “blocked without notice”.
Use VPN to bypass the block?
The IT portal “heise” writesthat it might in and of itself be possible to circumvent the restrictions imposed by Netflix via a VPN tunnel. Thus, one can pretend to the service, at least on paper, to be in a different place – in this case in the subscriber’s household. Technically, this is not a problem. But there are also ways on the Netflix side to unmask this deception. However, it remains to be seen how the streaming service will counteract this.
It is also unclear how hard Netflix could crack down if the service finds that a user wants to trick the block in this way. A blocking of the account would at least be possible. In the terms of use, the provider points out that in the event of a violation, one is entitled to restrict the use of the service or to terminate it completely.