Subscribers of streaming services certainly are sick and tired of price hikes, yet users often have little recourse other than simply canceling their accounts. But for users in Italy, they may soon receive some monetary compensation for nearly a decade’s worth of price jumps.
A court in Rome has ruled that Netflix’s subscription price increases in Italy over the past seven years were illegal, declaring them void under the country’s consumer protection code and ordering the company to reimburse affected subscribers.
According to lawyers representing the consumers, unlawful increases on the Premium plan across 2017, 2019, 2021, and 2024 total roughly €8 ($9.22) per month, while Standard plan overcharges amount to €4 per month. A Premium subscriber who has paid continuously since 2017 could be entitled to approximately €500 ($577) in refunds, with Standard subscribers eligible for around €250 ($288). Netflix has been given 90 days to comply, facing a daily fine of roughly €700 ($800) for delays, though the company’s planned appeal could postpone enforcement.
A Netflix spokesperson told Fortune: “We will file an appeal against the decision. At Netflix, our members come first. We take consumer rights very seriously, and we believe our terms have always been in line with Italian law and practices.”
According to Italian consumer law, companies cannot unilaterally alter subscription prices without stating a legitimate justification in the contract. Netflix’s terms, the court found, included only generic price-change clauses that gave subscribers the option to cancel but never articulated specific reasons for increases. Under Italian and broader EU law, the freedom to cancel is not the same as consent to new terms.
