A few years ago, it was normal to share your Netflix, Disney+ account… with third parties, whether or not they lived in the same household as you. Faced with the abuse of account sharing that generates hundreds of millions of euros in losses for the giants each year, Netflix had the idea of limiting account sharing by asking for a financial supplement from all those who share their account with relatives outside their home. This strategy seems to have caught the attention of Disney+, because after announcing that it wanted to implement the same practice, the streaming service has just applied its promises to the US.
Disney+ Limits Account Sharing in the US
Here we are. After months of waiting, Disney+ has just implemented its system that detects account sharing with people who do not live in the same home. While we still have no information on when this will arrive in France, Americans have just seen today the first message indicating that a payment is required to share an account with a third party.
Several Disney+ subscribers in the United States have reported seeing the message asking them to pay for an “Extra Member” option at $6.99 per month:
Add a family member or friend to your Disney+ membership, even if they live outside your household. Add an additional member to Disney+ for $6.99/month. Your additional member can stream on 1 device.
Transferring your profile for a fresh start to a new Disney+ account
If someone was using a loved one’s account for free and the account owner now refuses to pay an additional $6.99/month, the “squatter” will be able to transfer their profile to another Disney+ account. The advantage of this process is that the person will not lose their history or progress on the content they are currently watching.
For people who travel often and are not always at home, Disney+ promises that this will not be a problem for using their account. If account sharing is detected, the account owner will have two buttons: “I am away from home” or the “Update my home” button (in case of moving for example).
Image 9to5mac
How does Disney+’s anti-account sharing system work?
Here too, the Disney group copies Netflix. Disney+ uses the same techniques as its competitor, the streaming service will carefully track the IP addresses that connect to your account, the account activity as well as the devices that validate the identifier and password to join the list of profiles. If something suspicious appears, the account sharing detection message will automatically appear on your screen.
Coming soon to France?
Disney previously announced that this new procedure that monetizes and limits account sharing will apply worldwide. Today, Disney+ starts with the United States, but in the coming days, all of Europe as well as Asia-Pacific, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Canada will also have this new program.
We can therefore expect to see the first messages limiting account sharing this week in France.
