User Complaints Spread Worldwide
[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] An error occurred in Chile, where Netflix is restricting account sharing, causing even legitimate users to be blocked from accessing the online video service (OTT). As similar account sharing restrictions are expected to be implemented in South Korea, user dissatisfaction appears to be growing.
On the 5th (local time), Bloomberg reported this through the case of Netflix user Cristian Castro (48), who lives in Santiago, the capital of Chile. Having used Netflix for several years, he recently experienced a significant increase in cases where he had to go through subscriber verification via text message on his mobile phone to access the service. Last week, his access was completely cut off, and authentication via QR code and PC web browser also failed. Eventually, he canceled his Netflix subscription.
Previously, Netflix introduced a policy last year in three countries?Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru?charging an additional fee of about $3 (approximately 3,765 KRW) for account sharing. However, the authentication process became complicated, and cases began to occur where accounts were blocked if users did not access the service for a month or accessed it from locations outside their home for a certain period. Netflix also examined the internet address (IP), MAC address, and account activity of login devices to identify users.
Bloomberg reported that as these measures began, users have been expressing dissatisfaction due to having to verify themselves as legitimate users every time.
Meanwhile, Netflix plans to start cracking down on account sharing globally within the next few weeks. It is also known that Netflix initially announced an account sharing crackdown policy on its website in South Korea but later clarified that it was a misunderstanding.
Greg Peters, Netflix co-CEO, said during a conference call last month, "(The crackdown on account sharing) will generally not be a popular action," adding, "Some dissatisfied subscribers will cancel their subscriptions." However, he also added that, as with past price increases, they expect to retain or regain subscribers through content.
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