Netflix’s password-sharing crackdown just met its biggest challenge yet, thanks to one YouTuber who shared their password with over 800,000 people.
The streaming giant banned password sharing in May 2023 to prevent people in different households from using the same account for free.
Netflix now requires users to set a primary location - which it likely determines based on your device’s IP address - so that only those living in the same household can share one account.
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To share an account with others outside the household requires an extra fee.
The changes were rolled out across the US, UK, Australia, and dozens of other countries, but not without major backlash.
Subscribers were forced to choose one of three options: either abandon Netflix, sign up and pay for their own private Netflix account or pay an additional fee and become an 'extra member' to the existing account.
Many users were furious and ended up quitting the service altogether rather than paying more.
But instead of ranting online, popular YouTuber Beluga decided to fight back - and the results were chaos.
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In a viral video that now has over 1.5 million views, Beluga tested what would happen if he shared his password with over 800,000 people.
In his video, he wrote: "They banned password sharing but can that stop 841, 709 people?"
Going onto his Discord server, the YouTuber posts a picture captioned 'fridge reveal' and shares it with his community of 841,709 members.
Essentially, the image shows a fridge full of Monster energy drinks and a Post-it note with Beluga's supposed login details for Netflix.
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It wasn't long until chaos erupted.
When Beluga goes to load up Squid Game on his Netflix account, his Gmail floods with notifications, stating: 'A new device is using your account. Please review who's using your Netflix account.'
Meanwhile, the streaming platform spams hundreds of alerts, reading: "Too many people are using your account right now," and requesting PIN codes in multiple languages.
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The madness ends when one user pulls the plug.
Beluga receives an email from Google Mail stating the password on his account has been changed.
Viewers loved the stunt and flooded the comments section.
"beluga's neftlix changed languages with the amount of hungry netflix fans," one user joked.
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"the thing is that only 2 of those 8 [hundred] thousand people can watch netflix at at time," another replied.
"Bro became Netflix’s worst nightmare," someone else remarked.
However, some users thought the fun ended too early, writing: "There is always that one person that ruins the fun for everyone" and "Nahhh, I can't believe someone broke the fun that quick..."