Disney-owned streaming giant Hulu is cracking down on password sharing, months after competitor Netflix did the same.
In an email to customers Wednesday, Hulu said that beginning March 14, the company will start restricting accounts “outside the household.” The email added that password sharing is against Hulu’s user agreement.
“You agree not to impersonate or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity, including using another person’s username, password or other account information, or another person’s name or likeness, or provide false details for a parent or guardian,” the company’s user agreement reads.
Similar crackdowns on password sharing are coming to Disney+ and ESPN+, also owned by Walt Disney Co. All three services have anti-password sharing language, though it’s unclear when that language was added to the user agreements.
The new crackdowns come after major streaming service Netflix last year announced it would no longer let users share passwords. As a result, Netflix customers were restricted to one screen per household and had to pay extra for more.
According to Netflix, the policy was a success. The company reported late last year that the tougher rules led to thousands of new subscribers hoping to stay up to date with Netflix content.
Disney CEO Bob Iger took notice and told investors last year that cracking down on password sharing was a priority for the company.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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