Disney+ ends its free account-sharing fairytale

Disney+ has gone all Netflix on users by suspending free account sharing in Europe and the US.

Users of the streaming service can no longer share the same subscription with family members and friends outside the household.

Now, sharing an account comes with an extra fee of $7 per month for an ad-supported plan and $10 per month for an ad-free plan.

The account owner can add only one extra member and be the one who pays the fee for it. The additional member can use the service via one device at a time and has access to the same features as the main account user.

Many people enjoy watching shows while they travel, for example in their rental home or hotel. Disney+ allows members to use its services while traveling but asks them to verify the account by sending a code to their email address.

This news shouldn’t come as a surprise, since the company informed users about the changes last year.

However, the news sparked a discussion online, with people being quite open about the possible rise of content theft.

“Companies have forgotten that the only reason pirating declined was because these services were cheap and easy. It was worth it to pay rather than torrenting. If you look at recent statistics you'll see, to the surprise of no one, that torrenting is on the rise again,” noted one Reddit user.

Some people also found ways to circumvent the system, saying, “I still share my Netflix account with people in four different countries. Occasionally, they get the household pop-up thing. Select ‘I’m traveling,’ and I just give them the verification code. It's that simple.”

“It's common practice to just copy what works. If Disney is copying this from Netflix, it means most people were fine with the Netflix change and will be fine with it if Disney does it too,” stated another netizen, referring to the same change that was done by Netflix.

The company implemented its password-sharing policy worldwide in May of 2023.