Max Password-Sharing Crackdown Coming This Year

A password-sharing crackdown is coming to Max. The Warner Bros. Media streaming service, a combination of both HBO Max and Discovery+ content, later this year is set to join fellow streamers Netflix, Disney+, and Hulu in implementing restrictions designed to prevent subscribers from sharing accounts with non-household members, according to CEO and President of Streaming and Games J.B. Perrette.

"We're launching in a bunch of European markets as we go into the second and third quarter," Perette said, according to Wired. "And password-sharing crackdown, which, obviously, Netflix has implemented extremely successfully. We're going to be doing that starting later this year and into '25, which is another growth opportunity for us."

Perette did not provide a specific timetable for when a password-sharing crackdown could be introduced to U.S. subscribers. He also didn't specify how the rule would be enforced. The streamer's current terms of use state that subscribers "have the option to create up to five (5) authorized user profiles on your Max account (each, an 'Authorized User')." "Authorized Users" are described as "limited to members of your household." The password-sharing crackdown will mean that anyone using somebody else's account to watch shows like The Last of Us, House of the Dragon, and The White Lotus will have to shell out the bucks for their own subscription — unless Max rolls out an account-sharing charge, similar to Netflix.

The crackdown is reportedly part of a larger effort to bring up Max's subscriber numbers and increase profitability. According to The Wrap, Warner Bros. Discovery narrowed its streaming loss to $55 million during its fourth quarter of 2023, which was down from a loss of $217 million a year ago.

"You see Netflix's success, but Netflix was in market for 17 years. That means people were sharing passwords for 17 years," Perrette added, per IGN. "We've been in the market for four if you count the HBO Max launch. Obviously, we're not quite at the same scale, but relative to the scale of our business, it's a meaningful opportunity."

Netflix was the first streaming service to introduce limitations on password sharing when it began its password-sharing crackdown in 2023. Disney, meanwhile, followed suit not long after, with both Disney+ and Hulu updating their terms of service to ban users from sharing login credentials with non-household members.