YouTube cracks down on Premium Family sharing with non-family users Some YouTube Premium users are getting emails from YouTube about illegal account sharing.
If youre paying for a YouTube Premium account, you need to be extra careful going forward. According to initial reports, Google is apparently taking increased action against account sharing, and the company has reportedly already sent some emails to account holders who are sharing premium benefits with people who dont live in the same household.
According to YouTubes official guidelines, this has been prohibited since 2023, back when Netflix introduced stricter rules against password sharing, prompting other streaming services to follow suit.
There have also been repeated reports of YouTube cancelling cheap subscriptions from abroadwhich were often subscribed to using a VPN servicewithout warning. This is particularly annoying for anyone who would otherwise be unable to afford YouTube Premium yet is still willing to pay YouTube something for the privilege of premium features. 14-day deadline
Affected users who receive an email from YouTube are apparently informed of a 14-day deadline. After this period, all premium features (such as ad-free viewing and offline downloads) will be cancelled, regardless of how much time actually remains on the subscription.
The YouTube account itself will apparently not be blocked. Theres only talk of blocking the family membership. Presumably, all users (except for the account holder) will be banned if YouTube detects a violation of the household rules. YouTube checks your location
According to YouTube, it uses location checks with IP addresses and GPS every 30 days to check whether users on a premium plan are in the same household. The respective region is also compared with the account settings in order to expose pricing arbitrage from abroad.
This procedure isnt yet 100 percent foolproof, as there are still many users who share their premium plans but havent yet been caught. Conversely, its also possible for legitimate family members to be inadvertently classified as non-household members if theyre away for too long (e.g., due to traveling or studying). What you can do
If you receive such an email from YouTube but havent actually shared your account beyond your household, you can prevent the account block by contacting YouTube support. If you can prove that all users are in the same household, YouTube should lift the block.
Otherwise, if youve been caught out, you may want to consider adjusting your subscription. Whereas YouTube Premium Family costs $22.99/month, you might prefer to go individual with YouTube Premium Lite for just $7.99/month. For reference, individual YouTube Premium costs $13.99/month.
This article originally appeared on our sister publication PC-WELT and was translated and localized from German.
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