From ‘Breaking Bad’ to ‘Friends’ and beyond, Netflix has it all. No doubt it is one of the top-ranking streaming platforms. To sum it up, Netflix has more titles onboard than many of its rivals and yet, not all are available for all the users. For instance, some of the anime available on Netflix Japan is not at all available in Netflix US or Netflix India. That’s infuriating for many subscribers as they have paid for the subscription. They must get their hands on all the titles, right?
The answer is much more complex and we will have to take a deep dive into it. Netflix has geo-blocked a lot of content. We will take you through excerpts on what’s geo-blocking and how to bypass it via VPN. We will also go in-depth on whether is it illegal to use a VPN for Netflix and much more.
Netflix & The Geo-blocks
When you visit Netflix’s library, you see a whole catalog of titles spread across different genres, types, and formats. However, Netflix’s country-wise libraries differs widely. Netflix’s US library is not the same as that of Netflix Canada. In fact, the former’s catalog is thrice the size of Canada’s and that happens across all of its catalogs.
Netflix has deemed licensing as one of the reasons why it doesn’t make all the content available for all its libraries. We will get to it in some time. To prevent users from accessing licensed-pending content in a region, it imposes a geo-block or geo-restriction. It is a virtual wall that keeps some of the titles inaccessible to any region while available to others. For instance, some anime titles are not available on Netflix India whereas Netflix Japan is filled with them and this happens for quite a lot of content.
Although VPN is primarily used to protect users from the hocus pocus of the internet, one of its uses is to bypass geo-blocks. The process is simple, you are essentially tricking Netflix into believing that you are logging in from a certain part of the world even though you are physically located miles apart.
To give an example, Quentin Tarantino’s Shawshank Redemption is available on Netflix Canada but not in India. A VPN user can switch their IP address to a server residing in Canada and voila, VPN tricks Netflix that you actually logged in somewhere from Canada. That’s how you can enjoy the greatest movie of all time: the Shawshank Redemption.
Why Does Netflix Ban Subscribers From Using a VPN?
When you see a movie or a web series on Netflix, little do you know what it took to get the same listed on Netflix. There are two types of content on Netflix – Originals and Licensed and each has terms and conditions.
Netflix Original Content
You might have seen the ‘Netflix Originals’ titles on the explore page. It essentially means that the particular title is from Netflix’s and an intellectual property (IP). Thus, it has complete rights to it. Netflix Originals are available to all users across borders even with VPN disengaged.
But again, there are some limitations. For instance, Orange is the New Black was sold to third-party networks in Indonesia, Tanzania, and many other countries making it quite obvious that Netflix can’t stream them on its portal. Similarly, there is much other content that Netflix sells rights to making them unavailable on its portal in certain countries.
Licensed Content
This is where the situation gets tricky. Be it ‘Friends’ or ‘The Office’ or other sitcoms, Netflix buys our licensing rights to stream these types of content. Many times, production companies and makers will end up with an exclusive deal wherein the shows can be streamed on Netflix only and no other platform in a specific country (if not all) which escalates the licensing fees.
Different production companies have different obligations that Netflix has to follow. For instance, an ABC Production doesn’t want Netflix to stream its popular sitcom ‘A Rich Guy’ in Canada and thus, Netflix has to abide by the same. The streaming giant adds a geoblock on such content preventing it from showcasing on your library (if you are accessing Netflix Canada). A VPN, on the other hand, tricks Netflix in terms of your location and that’s why you get your hands on the geo-blocked content.
Is It Illegal To Use A VPN For Netflix?
Hope you have got the idea of what type of content Netflix offers, the geo-blocks and contractual obligations. Now it’s time to answer the questions that you have been waiting for eagerly. The question is, “Is it Illegal To Use A VPN For Netflix?”.
The internet is filled with questions about the legalities of using a VPN for Netflix. For short, no matter how you slice it, using a VPN for Netflix is legal unless the government authorities in your country have explicitly banned it. For instance, China, Belarus, and North Korea among others ban use of VPN.
Circling back to the question, the answer is, you can use VPN for Netflix with ease and hassle. It is a moral dilemma for many as they perceive using VPN as consuming pirated content which is illegal. However, when using VPN, you are pretty much trying to bypass the geo-blocks to gain access to the content not available in your country’s library. Ultimately, you are paying for the subscription, and no matter what content you consume.
For licensed content that are geo-blocked, Netflix is already paying the copyright fees. Since you have subscribed to Netflix and paid them the monthly dues, you are pretty much covered legally from the judicial point of view. Contradictory to that, Netflix has a different stand when it comes to streaming on VPN. It categories VPN user in the same bucket even if you’re not accessing geo-blocked content.
We have seen instances where accounts streaming Netflix via VPN have been disabled. But it is certainly a small percentage of the total VPN users. Essentially, judicial authorities in your country would allow the use of VPN but Netflix’s terms and conditions prohibit users from doing so.
What Happens If You Get Caught Using VPN For Netflix?
If you read Netflix’s Terms & Conditions (T&S) sections 4.3 and 4.6, you will know that Netflix doesn’t want any users to circumvent or alter its platform and try to access content outside of their geographical location. Netflix has stated that these activities are fraudulent and illegal. Thus, violators will face direct consequences if found to be using a VPN with Netflix.
It’s daunting that Netflix has subtly threatened users violating its T&S. However, you need to know that although Netflix can cutback access to your account, and terminate or deactivate your account, it isn’t technically illegal to use a VPN for Netflix. Yes, it is a moral question mark on someone but hey, did you ever read ‘T&S’ of virtually any services or apps you have used so far?
We have heard the news about Netflix trying to thwart users from sharing their accounts password by administering various measures. There are fewer to no reports of Netflix banning accounts because the users were connected to a VPN. Netflix has a mechanism to detect VPNs where it essentially blocks the IP addresses but that’s something we will get to in a bit.
How Does Netflix Detect VPNs?
I am quite sure that many of the readers would want to know how exactly Netflix detects VPN users. Here’s how.
When you connect to Netflix, an IP address represents you on the web including your ISP. Netflix uses the same information to showcase the Netflix catalog of that particular country. That’s how you end up with content for India using Netflix app in India. Of course, the answer to how you get the content and recommendations is much more complex.
An IP address is unique to each user. When you are using a VPN, most of the services allocate same IP addresses to the VPN users. Netflix spots the pattern linking to a large number of users, flags it off and blacklists it. It is especially true when it comes to free VPNs that have limited IP addresses shared by a large pool of users where the risk of detecting and blacklisting is astronomically high.
Many premium VPNs such as NordVPN and ExpressVPN have dedicated servers for Netflix and a large pool of IP addresses that can be shared. These providers can easily swap your IP address in case one gets flagged off. Apart from that, you will find features like refreshing IP pools where your IP address changes periodically thereby steering clear of any detection.
Why Does Netflix Block VPNs?
Netflix has warned users not to indulge in fraudulent and illegal activities. The question around ‘Is it illegal to use a VPN for Netflix?’ has been asked by many and Netflix has always maintained that the activity is still fraudulent.
There are a few reasons that we have gone through several times right here. First up, Netflix may not have a proper license to show a specific title in country A when it does have for country B. In this case, users can spoof their location to be from Country B to get access through VPN which is when Netflix might crack the IP address.
Netflix doesn’t want its users to play around the platform but enjoy the services as it is offered. Using VPN, sharing passwords with others among others is monitored from time to time.
How Many People Use VPN With Netflix?
According to a survey conducted by Tom’s Guide, the consensus was on privacy which is one of the primary reasons why someone would use a VPN. It goes the same way for Netflix subscribers irrespective of if they are streaming any geo-blocked content or not.
However, the next thing you see, people actually use VPN mainly for website unblocking. The third largest responses recorded by the survey gave an outlook on how people use VPN for streaming. In fact, when compared to general privacy as a use case, 3/4th of the users reported they latch onto VPN for streaming and that ultimately includes platforms such as Netflix.
When asked how often people use VPNs with Netflix, the majority of the respondents voted ‘All day, every day’. As you can see in the graph below, there’s a chunk of VPN with Netflix subscribers who use it all day, daily/most days, and a few times a week.
Will Netflix block all the users from accessing the platform via VPN? How Does Netflix Detects VPN? Is it Illegal to use a VPN for Netflix even after knowing the terms and conditions that have been put forth? A lot of questions will be answered in this how-to guide so do read it in full to gain valuable insights.
Is It Safe To VPN for Netflix Anyways?
The answer is yes. Legally, VPN for Netflix safe to use assuming you are using a premium service that has a reputation. Netflix does maintains that users shouldn’t use VPN and that reflects the same on its T&S. It acts upon it whenever it flags some account and may terminate or temporarily disable it.
How To Bypass The Netflix VPN Ban?
This piece of information is vital if you are planning to use a VPN for Netflix. We at VPNQuery recommend using NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and AtlasVPN as some of the premium-tier VPN services out there that give you the best chances of bypassing Netflix VPN detection. Although you will have to pay for these services, it is nothing near what you will get once you access the wide collection of Netflix’ library.
Here’s a general step-by-step procedure on how to use VPN for Netflix.
- First up, download either NordVPN, ExpressVPN, AtlasVPN or any other trusted VPN.
- Install it on your device.
- If it offers a free trial, you can use it for the period. If not, you will have to subscribe to the premium service.
- Go to VPN server locations and choose the country that you want to access Netflix from.
For instance, if I want to access Netflix Canada (my physical location is Netflix India), I’ll have to connect to any server in Canada. Let’s say Vancouver.
- Once the connection is established, go to Netflix app/website.
- Sign in using your credentials.
- Search for the content that was supposedly not available in India but it is in Canada and tap on it.
- Bingo, you will be able to stream the specific title without a hitch.
Note: One of the benefits of using a premium VPN for Netflix as aforementioned is the fact that you can change servers. You have a lot of options to choose from. In case Netflix detects you using a VPN from a server and blocks it, you can connect to another server and continue using Netflix with ease. Many VPN apps have features that refresh IP which makes it difficult for Netflix to track you using VPN at all.
Conclusion
Netflix is the to-go streaming platform for quality shows and movies. I was glued to watching “13 Reasons Why”, “The Office”, “Orange is the New Black”, “Squid Games”, “Breaking Bad”. However, as aforementioned, not all the content on Netflix libraries is uniformly distributed across all its catalogs. It is the reason that creates the need to use VPN to mask one’s location & consume content out of one’s geographical location.
This entire blog was dedicated to answering the “Is it illegal to use a VPN for Netflix?” and hopefully, we took a deep approach towards answering all the associated queries that you might have. Do let us know if something remains unanswered. We will be happy to add the requested piece of information dedicated to resolving all your queries on using a VPN for Netflix.
