Disney+ password crackdown has officially started in Canada

Disney+ has initiated a campaign to curb password sharing among its Canadian subscribers, starting from November 1st. Recently, we learned about the price increases for their packages and their plans to crack down on password sharing, and now the company has updated its policy to prohibit sharing account or login details outside of a user's household.

Although Disney has not detailed how it plans to implement this policy, it has suggested that it may monitor account usage and impose restrictions or termination for violations. Disney's CEO, Bob Iger, had previously revealed during a Q3 earnings call that the company was exploring solutions to tackle shared accounts. He highlighted the common practice of password sharing across Disney's services and confirmed that the company has the technical means to monitor sign-ins.

This move by Disney Plus is similar to Netflix strategy, which has been testing password-sharing restrictions for over a year and began enforcing them in the US in May 2023. Interestingly, Canada was also one of the first places where Netflix implemented this policy, just like Disney+ is doing on this occasion. Netflix uses IP addresses to control account access and allows subscribers to add more members to their accounts for an extra fee, and despite the controversy and what it may have seemed like at first, this policy has reportedly led to an increase in Netflix subscribers. Meanwhile, Disney Plus is now offering a cheaper ad-supported subscription tier for Canadian users. Now that Pandora's box has been opened, this crackdown on password sharing policy by streaming services seems to be expanding to increasingly popular mainstream services out there, so you might want to take a look at some of our recommended alternatives here.