YouTube Premium users who share family plans with people outside their household may soon lose access as the platform begins enforcing its rules more strictly. Subscribers sharing their YouTube Premium or YouTube Music family plans with members at different addresses have started receiving warning emails. According to Android Police, these emails state that memberships will be paused within two weeks if all users do not follow YouTube’s household policy.
One email reads, “Your YouTube Premium family membership requires all members to be in the same household as the family manager. It appears you may not be in the same household as your family manager, and your membership will be paused in 14 days.”
If a user loses Premium access, they can still use YouTube and YouTube Music but will see ads and lose extra features. This enforcement is similar to Netflix’s recent crackdown on password sharing, which restricted account use to household members unless customers paid for additional user slots.
YouTube introduced its same-household rule in 2023, but this is the clearest sign the company is now actively enforcing it. A YouTube spokesperson told CNET that the family plan policy has not changed and that they are continuously enforcing it.
This action comes as YouTube faces criticism over recent Premium price increases. In some cases, families pay nearly $500 a year for ad-free videos and music access. This high cost has made sharing accounts an attractive workaround for some users.
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