Netflix new share accounts raise concern in consumer agency

By Espinosa Bellido Abogados

Netflix features like separate profiles and multiple streams in its Standard and Premium plans have been popular but have also created confusion about when and how Netflix can be shared. As a result, accounts are being shared between households.

So for the last year Netflix has been working on ways to enable members who share outside their household to do so easily and securely, while also paying more. And over the next few weeks, the company will launch and test two new features for its members in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru:

-Add an Extra Member: Members on Standard and Premium plans will be able to add sub accounts for up to two people they don’t live with - each with their own profile, personalized recommendations, login and password - at a lower price.


-Transfer Profile to a New Account: Members on Basic, Standard, and Premium plans can enable people who share their account to transfer profile information either to a new account or an Extra Member sub account - keeping the viewing history and personalized recommendations.


“We recognize that people have many entertainment choices, so we want to ensure any new features are flexible and useful for members. 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”, said Chengyi Long, Netflix Director of Product Innovation.

The announcement brought concern from the authorities of Chile, Costa Rica and Peru. In Peru specifically, the IP, competition and consumer protection office (Indecopi) has met with representatives of Netflix to propose preventive measures in the event of possible conflicts between users and the platform due to the variation of the streaming service. Indecopi specifically stated that  concepts like "home" and "families" raised by Netflix could have different appreciations by consumers.