Over the past few days, subscribers have reportedly been receiving emails from their streaming services, all notifying them of updates to their terms of service. The common thread? A crackdown on password sharing.
This issue was brought to light by TikTok user @mirandasaysstuff. In her video, which has amassed over 249,700 views since it was posted on Febr. 10, she questioned, “So did they all just like have a roundtable and say like guys, we’re going to be cable, but not cable, but cable. Let’s [expletive] ‘em up!”
Netflix, a pioneer in the streaming industry, was the first to take significant action. The company, which once tweeted “Love is sharing a password,” began cracking down on password sharing back in May of 2023 and saw a significant increase in subscriber numbers. In Forbes, it was mentioned that, “Netflix reported revenue of $8.5 billion for the third quarter of 2023—up 8% compared with 2022 and beating expectations due to the sheer number of new members.”
Following Netflix’s lead, other streaming services have started to follow suit. Updates to terms of service have been reported from Disney, Hulu, ESPN, and more. According to an NBC article, Disney CEO Bob Iger was reported saying, “We certainly have established this as a real priority. We actually think that there’s an opportunity here to help us grow our business.”
However, the reaction from customers has been less than positive. In response to @mirandasaysstuff’s video, viewers expressed their frustration with the changes, and said they’ll be canceling their subscriptions to the streaming services.
One of them said, “canceled them all. everything is going up except my paycheck.”
“I canceled everything! I’m over all of them!” a second remarked.
Another user stated, “I just cancelled Hulu/Disney+ because it went up to $21.99 and they didn’t even tell me?? Byeeee.”
“they forgot what brought them to the dance was the cheap price and the alternative for people,” another disgruntled customer remarked.
@mirandasaysstuff It will be called Kable #fyp #foryou #foryoupage #cable #streaming #hbo #disney #hulu #espn #netflix ♬ original sound – miranda says
One more user went a step further, saying, “Nahhh we should all go back to buying dvds.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to @mirandasaysstuff via email and to Disney and HBO Max via their press email for comment.