Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ to start cracking down on password sharing beginning in March

Disney is banning password sharing on its streaming services, following in the footsteps of competitor Netflix.

In an email to Hulu subscribers on Wednesday, the company said it would start "adding limitations on sharing your account outside of your household" beginning March 14.

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.

"You agree not to impersonate or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity, including using another person's username, password or other account information, or another person's name or likeness, or provide false details for a parent or guardian," the agreement terms say.

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+.

The user agreements say that the company may analyze users' accounts to ensure they comply with password-sharing rules. Violators of the terms could have their accounts limited or terminated, according to the user agreements.

The move was hinted at by Disney CEO Bob Iger in August, who said the company planned to address the issue of password sharing in 2024.

"We certainly have established this as a real priority," Iger said on Disney's fiscal third-quarter earnings call. "We actually think that there's an opportunity here to help us grow our business."

Iger is expected to speak on Disney's fiscal first-quarter earnings call on February 7, potentially shedding more light on Disney's plans to address password borrowers on its three streaming services.

Disney's updated user agreement terms came after a successful password-sharing crackdown by Netflix, which led to an explosion in new subscribers as password "borrowers" were pushed into creating their own subscriptions.

Last week, Netflix announced it had a record number of subscribers as of the fourth quarter.

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