Following Netflix, Hulu begins password-sharing crackdown

Still sharing your Hulu password? If so, get ready for consequences. 

Hulu users just received an email alerting them to a revamped service agreement, which outlines the streamer’s new policy about password sharing: in a nutshell, you can’t do it anymore. 

“Unless otherwise permitted by your Service Tier, you may not share your subscription outside your household,” says the revised Hulu user agreement, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  

In case there’s any confusion, “’Household’ means the collection of devices associated with your primary personal residence that are used by the individuals who reside in them,” the service agreement continues. 

If that language sounds familiar, it’s because Hulu owner Disney sent out its own revised user agreement for Disney+ back in September that says pretty much the same thing. 

The new Hulu service agreement, which takes effect March 14, warns that Hulu may “analyze the use of your account to determine compliance” with its password-sharing rules—and if you break them, the streamer “may limit or terminate access to the Service and/or take any other steps as permitted by this Agreement.”  

The move shouldn’t come as a surprise. Disney CEO Bob Iger announced last fall that password-sharing crackdowns were coming to both Disney+ and Hulu, noting that the company is “actively exploring ways to address account sharing” and would soon “begin to update our subscriber agreements with additional terms and our sharing policies.” 

While both Disney+ and Hulu have now made it officially clear that password sharing is out of bounds, there’s still another shoe left to drop: a way for subscribers to legally share their accounts. 

Netflix, of course, already allows its users to buy “sub-accounts” for non-household members who might otherwise be sharing passwords. 

It’s clear that Disney+ and Hulu will soon tee up something similar, with Iger saying last year that Disney will consider the “best options for paying subscribers to share their accounts with friends and family.” 

All eyes were on Netflix last year as it rolled out its password-sharing crackdown, with many wondering if a flood of angered users would head for the exits. 

But they didn’t, and with Netflix riding high after its successful “sub-account” strategy, its competitors are sure to follow suit, with Disney+ and Hulu being among the first.