YouTube starts cracking down on a Premium family plan loophole
If you've been using a YouTube Premium family plan to extend its benefits to people outside of your household, keep an eye on your inbox.
That's because the Google-owned video website is apparently starting a soft crackdown on that practice, per Android Police. Some folks, including a friend of the Android Police reporter and this Reddit user, have received emails from YouTube stating that their Premium service will be paused in 14 days because they were not in the same physical location as the holder of the Premium account. For reference, YouTube Premium's family plan allows someone to add up to five members to the plan for just $23/mo.
It should be noted that YouTube instituted this policy all the way back in 2023, but had not really enforced it until now. It also seems, per Android Police, that the enforcement hasn't rolled out widely yet. You may still be able to exploit the loophole for now, though I wouldn't count on it lasting forever. The app does a check every 30 days to ensure that all users are in the same location, so we may start seeing more and more reports of this happening in the coming weeks.
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Again, make sure you check your email from time to time.
Alex Perry is a tech reporter at Mashable who primarily covers video games and consumer tech. Alex has spent most of the last decade reviewing games, smartphones, headphones, and laptops, and he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. He is also a Pisces, a cat lover, and a Kansas City sports fan. Alex can be found on Bluesky at yelix.bsky.social.
