Disney+ and Hulu are next to begin officially cracking down on password sharing in the U.S. Both streaming services have recently updated their service agreements to make clear that subscribers are not permitted to share their subscriptions outside of their households. However, this change leaves open the door for leniency for some subscribers, depending on their subscription tier.
The service agreements were updated on January 25, 2024, with the addition of a new “Account Sharing” section. The same amendment to the agreement can now be found on both Disney+ and Hulu, and reads as follows:
“Account Sharing. Unless otherwise permitted by your Service Tier, you may not share your subscription outside of your household. “Household” means the collection of devices associated with your primary personal residence that are used by the individuals who reside therein. Additional usage rules may apply for certain Service Tiers. For more details on our account sharing policy, please visit our Help Center.”
In further explaining how this change is being implemented, and the result of breaching the terms, both service agreement amendments state:
“We may, in our sole discretion, analyze the use of your account to determine compliance with this Agreement. If we determine, in our sole discretion, that you have violated this Agreement, we may limit or terminate access to the Service and/or take any other steps as permitted by this Agreement (including those set forth in Section 6 of this Agreement).
You will be responsible for any use of your account by your household, including compliance with this section.”
Disney+ started cracking down on password sharing in Canada last year, with the Canadian subscriber agreement adding the same Account Section, as reported by Mobile Syrup at the time. While that agreement change came into effect on November 1st, the new U.S. subscriber agreement took effect on January 25, 2024.
In addition to the change to the subscriber agreement, Hulu appears to have now started emailing existing subscribers to let them know of the change. A copy of the email can be seen in this Reddit post and explains the new service agreement will take effect for existing subscribers in the United States on March 14, 2024. The email also notes subscribers may receive an in-app notification of these changes earlier than March 14, and accepting the terms will result in the new service agreement taking immediate effect.
Streaming Better can confirm Disney+ subscribers have also now started receiving emails confirming their subscriber agreement has also now been updated.
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