Prime Video Takes Shot at Netflix for Password-Sharing Crackdown

Netflix started cracking down on password sharing earlier this week, and Prime Video has whipped up a snarky response to its rival’s new policy.

The official Twitter account for the U.K. version of Amazon’s streaming platform shared a screenshot of the profile selection page that asks “Who’s watching?” with all six profiles memetically named “Everyone Who Has Our Password ❤️ [heart emoji].” It even went so far as to quote-tweet Netflix’s post from 2017 that ironically reads, “Love is sharing a password.”

At the time Netflix shared the “Love is sharing a password,” it turned a blind eye to the practice of account owners sharing their login credentials with other people regardless of whether they lived in the same household as them. Now the streaming giant is seeking to restrict that by charging its subscribers extra every time they add a profile for a different user living outside of their household, whether that be a friend or extended family member.

Netflix began its crackdown on password sharing on Tuesday by sending an email to U.S. subscribers suspected of participating in the practice that started with, “Your Netflix account is for you and the people you live with – your household.” Then it introduced a feature in which they can either pay an extra $7.99 a month per additional user they add to their account or transfer that user’s profile to a new membership plan that the user in question can pay for on their own.

After reporting that over 100 million households worldwide share their accounts, Netflix started cracking down on password sharing in several other countries, including Canada, Spain, Portugal, and New Zealand. The company put those new rules to the test in Latin America last year.

Cristina Alexander is a freelance writer for IGN. To paraphrase Calvin Harris, she wears her love for Sonic the Hedgehog on her sleeve like a big deal. Follow her on Twitter @SonicPrincess15.