Key Takeaways

  • Max is cracking down on password sharing with a focus on high-usage accounts.
  • Netflix, Disney, and Hulu have restricted account sharing as streaming prices increase.
  • Users still sharing passwords have some time before Max implements stricter detection methods in 2025.



In what comes as absolutely no surprise to anyone, another streaming service has decided to come down hard on password sharing. Max — formerly HBO Max — has had enough of your generous, money-saving ways and wants to make your budget a little more difficult to balance. There’s no official timeline on when the restrictions will start or what form they might take, but Warner Bros Discovery’s CEO said the earliest messaging will come next week.

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JB Perrette, CEO of Warner Bros Discovery, spoke at an event and said that certain customers would begin receiving “some very early, gentle messaging,” according to Deadline.



Although Perrette didn’t specify the methodology that would be used, he did add “We’ll start some early messaging with some people who we think are in the higher tier of usage. We will offer a way to essentially add a member, starting in the first quarter. We will then start gradually as we get the data and start figuring out, with some explicit and implicit signals, how good we are at detecting. And then as we go through ’25, you’re going to see the filters get tighter and tighter.”

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Max follows a well-worn path

Netflix was the first streaming service to limit what users could do with their accounts, although Disney and Hulu soon followed.

At one point, sharing your password was almost encouraged, but no longer — yet the prices of services like Netflix, Hulu, Disney, and many more continue to rise without any evident increase in the value they offer. As a result, more and more people are turning to at-home media servers like Plex and Jellyfin for streaming, and many are hoisting the Jolly Roger to get the content.


If you’re currently sharing your password with friends and family, you’re probably in the clear for now. From how Perrette phrased his statement, you have a few months before Max begins searching in earnest for shared accounts. The service will refine its detection method over the next year, and by the end of 2025, most people will need their own Max subscription to continue watching content there.