After threatening to crack down on VPNs, proxies and other similar workarounds earlier this year, Netflix is finally making good on its promise.
Over the weekend, one European Netflix user took to Reddit to express his frustration over the fact that the VPN he had been using to watch shows and movies from other regions was suddenly eliciting an error message on Netflix. Hours later, hundreds of fellow Europeans had joined the thread, claiming they had experienced the same thing.
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Netflix subscribers from Belgium, Germany, Spain, the UK and the Czech Republic have all chimed in, making this latest wave of proxy bans sound like the most substantial to date. Furthermore, even if you’re simply using a VPN as a method of privacy, the streaming site will still block you until you turn it off.
Understandably, this has made many European users very unhappy. Here’s the thing: even if this kicks off a genuine subscriber exodus (which seems unlikely), it’s going to get far worse before it gets better. Australia and parts of Europe might be the first regions to be affected by the banning of proxies, but it will likely be a worldwide issue before the end of 2016.
Netflix simply can’t continue to allow users to view content in areas that it hasn’t licensed that content. Until things change on that front, this is something to which Netflix subscribers all around the globe are going to have to adjust.
