Netflix Tries to Crack Down on VPN Users; Accidentally Affects Local Users
Netflix is strengthening its anti-VPN restrictions to dissuade users from accessing foreign content — but some local users are getting caught in the crossfire.
A recent report by TorrentFreak unveiled that, as Netflix changed its VPN measures, some local users who were accessing the site as normal started losing licensed content found on the platform, instead only being able to see Netflix Originals (which are available to all subscribers regardless of region.)
WeVPN, a virtual private network service, noticed Netflix’s updated geo-fencing system blocked its residential IP addresses. WeVPN provides IP addresses attributed to actual internet customers as part of its service — but even users not subscribed to the service are suffering. “The collateral damage is that you have hundreds of thousands of legitimate residential Netflix subscribers blocked from accessing Netflix’s local country full catalog from their home,” a WeVPN spokesperson said to TorrentFreak.
Netflix
Netflix is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 3,000+ movies, 2,000+ TV Shows, and Netflix Originals like Stranger Things, Squid Game, The Crown, Tiger King, and Bridgerton. They are constantly adding new shows and movies. Some of their Academy Award-winning exclusives include Roma, Marriage Story, Mank, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
This new stance on VPNs comes after Netflix recently cracked down on password sharing out of households. It’s clear Netflix is trying to finally wrangle in the open secrets surrounding unauthorized individuals accessing its content, but it has unfortunately come at the price of innocent users losing access to their favorite shows.
Netflix is aware of the situation and is urging users to contact their ISPs.
Hi Raymond, help is here!🚨 If you do not have proxies, VPNs, or other routing software but still see this message, contact your internet service provider. They’ll be able to determine why your IP address is associated with proxy or VPN use.👉 https://t.co/JMty6kcu3j ^KG
— Netflix CS (@Netflixhelps) August 11, 2021
We’re not sure what, exactly, contacting the ISP will do to remedy the situation, but perhaps the ISPs will reset the user’s IP address to one that isn’t registered as a VPN address. Eventually, Netflix will have to figure this situation out — and quickly.