Disney Plus kicked off its password sharing crackdown last year, starting in Canada, and now it seems those rule changes are hitting U.S. subscribers as well. According to The Verge, Disney Plus has started emailing subscribers warning them against sharing passwords. So those of you with free rides, or who are sharing accounts to save some money, are going to have problems.
The email specifically mentions changes to the Disney Plus terms of service, and one of those changes is all about sharing passwords. It looks like Disney Plus will be operating under the same rules as Disney-owned Hulu — which is no huge surprise.
That means limiting password sharing to people in your own household, which is defined as a single geographical residence. The terms also say that Disney has the right to “analyze the use of your account to determine compliance”, but falls short of detailing how it’s going to detect continued rulebreakers.
Like Hulu, Disney Plus maintains the right to terminate your subscription in the event of account sharing. While we suspect you’ll be given some warning before this happens, that’s not guaranteed. So if you get flagged for password sharing, you should cut that out right away.
If you’ve got a Disney Plus account that you share with family or roommates, you’re not going to have any problems. Those people live at your address, and use the same internet connection. But should any of those people move out and continue to use the streaming service, like if one of your kids goes to college, then that’s going to cause problems.
These rules are already in effect for new subscribers, but existing subscribers have until March 14 to get their affairs in order and fall in line. After that, Disney’s going to start cracking down on shared accounts.
