In May 2023 Netflix started cracking down on individuals who were sharing an account in different locations. Over the last few years most other streaming platforms have followed suite with the same rules regarding shared accounts. 

This new "condition" of our streaming accounts has severely changed the way people can afford to watch movies and TV shows, and even social media as as of August 2026, Youtube Premium has decided to also make the switch. 

This is unfair to the poorest demographic of people such as;

• Children of Divorce
• College Students
• Single Individuals.
• People who temporarily move for work or internships.

Not only is this rule unfair, but it is also not even accurate. There have been multiple occasions where people couldn't get access to their accounts for reasons such as:

• Traveling.
• Being in another location such as school, work, or the library.
• Unable to get email confirmation.
• Moved to a new location.
• Simply was being pinged wrong. 

In 2026 if an individual wanted to pay for Netflix, Hulu, Max, Youtube Premium, Spotify, and Amazon Prime Video, the yearly grand total would be:

YouTube Premium (No sharing as of August 2026)
Monthly: $15.99
Yearly: $191.88

Netflix (Standard) (No sharing as of May 2023)
Monthly: $17.99
Yearly: $215.88

Disney+ (Premium) (No sharing as of September 2024)
Monthly: $15.99
Yearly: $191.88

Hulu (No Ads) (No sharing as of March 2024)
Monthly: $18.99
Yearly: $227.88

Max (Standard) (No sharing as of September 2025) 
Monthly: $16.99
Yearly: $203.88

Spotify Premium 
Monthly: $14.99
Yearly: $179.88

Amazon Prime (No sharing when child turns 18)
Monthly: $14.99
Yearly: $179.88
.

Prime Video Ad-Free
Monthly: $2.99
Yearly: $35.88

GRAND TOTAL
Monthly: $139.61
Yearly: $1,675.28

This causes a hardship amongst the people, it is completely normal for families to share accounts, even if eventually they move away. These terms and conditions were not present when most people started these subscriptions, some people have been loyal customers for decades, and now are dealing with the loss of a premium they have chosen to contribute to each month.  Children will eventually move on and have their own families and own accounts, but until then it shouldn't be impossible for especially college students to not be able to have access to an account, especially when there are years of history and specific stream curating done on each profile. 

Most streaming services have a max of 5-6 people per account anyways. Prohibiting the location is unfair to those who have had a profile on an account for years. 

By signing this petition the work will not be done, please go to house.gov and contact your local representative, as well as Senate.gov to contact your local senators. Include how you and your family have been impacted by these terms and conditions, and paste our proposed bill. 

H.R. ____ / S. ____

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES / HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
A BILL to prohibit providers of digital subscription services from utilizing geographic tracking or physical address restrictions to penalize or restrict access to multi-user or family subscription tiers.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

FEDERAL DIGITAL CONSUMER ACT

UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRACTICES RELATING TO DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION SHARING.
(a) In General—It shall be unlawful for any subscription service provider to utilize electronic tracking mechanisms, including but not limited to internet protocol (IP) addresses, Wi-Fi network service set identifiers (SSIDs), geolocation data, or mandatory device check-ins, to restrict, pause, suspend, or terminate an authorized user's access to a multi-user plan solely on the basis that the authorized user does not reside at the same physical address as the primary account holder.
(b) Permissible Restrictions—Nothing in this section shall construe to prohibit a provider from establishing uniform caps on the total number of concurrent streams or unique user profiles permitted under a single billing account, provided that such caps are enforced equally regardless of the physical location of the devices accessing the service.
(c) Surcharges Prohibited—No provider shall levy a location-based fee or geographic surcharge upon a primary account holder for assigning an authorized user who resides outside the primary account holder's principal residence.

ENFORCEMENT.
(a) Enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission—A violation of Section 2 shall be treated as a violation of a rule defining an unfair or deceptive act or practice under Section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)).
(b) Private Right of Action—Any person aggrieved by a violation of this Act may bring a civil action in an appropriate United States district court to recover actual damages or a civil penalty of $1,000 per violation, whichever is greater.

DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
Subscription Service Provider—The term "provider" means any corporation or entity engaged in commerce that offers digital media streaming, cloud data storage, or recurring consumer software packages.
Multi-User Plan—The term "multi-user plan" means any tier of service marketed to consumers that allows for multiple profiles or concurrent usage.
Primary Account Holder—The term "primary account holder" means the individual consumer who establishes, maintains, and pays for the subscription service.
Authorized User—The term "authorized user" means any individual designated by the primary account holder to occupy a profile or utilize a portion of a multi-user plan, regardless of legal familial status or physical residence.

Picture by: Cheyne Gateley/VIP taken from Google.

Text by RL Waters, no AI used in the text written, google gemini was present for grabbing data.