Hulu Is Joining Netflix in Cracking Down on Password Sharing

Hulu has revised its Terms of Service in an effort to ban password sharing amongst friends and family members outside of a subscriber’s primary personal residence. Hulu has been announcing via email that subscribers will have until March 14 to comply. According to the revised Terms of Service: “If we determine, in our sole discretion, that you have violated this Agreement, we may limit or terminate access to the Service and/or take any other steps as permitted by this Agreement.” The move by Hulu follows what has been reported as a successful crackdown on password sharing by Netflix in addition to a record number of subscribers in the fourth quarter.

“We’re adding limitations on sharing your account outside of your household, and explaining how we may assess your compliance with these limitations,” notes an important section of the new terms.

According to The Verge, “the writing’s been on the wall ever since Netflix reported that its password sharing crackdown was successful in driving more signups, after Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed he’d like to follow suit, and certainly after Disney+ began its own password sharing crackdown in earnest.”

“Disney should soon own all of Hulu and the two apps are even beginning to merge,” notes The Verge.

“Hulu’s user agreement, along with the agreements for Disney+ and ESPN+, explicitly prevent users from impersonating someone else by using their username or password,” reports CNN. “All three user agreements were last updated on January 25, though it is unclear when the password-sharing language was added to the agreements for Disney+ and ESPN+.”

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