A court docket in Rome has dominated that Netflix’s value hikes in Italy are unlawful. The ruling sides with a shopper advocacy group that claims the streaming large broke native guidelines by elevating costs for its service between 2017 and 2024 and stated prospects have been entitled to a refund.
Rome’s transfer comes days after Netflix introduced March 26 that it was elevating costs on its three plans in the US for the second time in simply over a yr.
In an announcement, Netflix introduced that it could enchantment the Rome court docket’s April 1 resolution, which has no fast impact.
Italian shopper advocacy group Movimento Consumatori stated in an announcement that the Rome court docket dominated in its favor as a result of it thought of Netflix’s value will increase in Italy between 2017 and 2024 to be a violation of the nation’s nationwide shopper code. This code specifies that value adjustments can’t be made unilaterally with out prior indication of a sound motive. Italian shopper safety legal guidelines restrict the discretion firms have to boost costs to make sure they’re honest.
Rome’s ruling additionally states that Netflix Italia subscribers are entitled to a discount within the value of their present subscription and have to be reimbursed for earlier unduly paid subscription charges.
He ordered that the choice be revealed on the Netflix Italia web site and within the nation’s essential newspapers to tell shoppers that their present contractual phrases have been void and that they have been entitled to a refund.
“For the Premium Plan, the unlawful will increase utilized in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2024 quantity to €8 ($9.22) per thirty days, whereas for the Customary Plan the whole is €4 per thirty days,” stated legal professionals Paolo Fiorio and Riccardo Pinna, who represented shoppers within the case. “A premium subscriber who has paid for streaming Netflix from 2017 to the current is entitled to a refund of roughly €500 ($577), whereas a regular subscriber is entitled to a refund of roughly €250 ($288).”
The Rome court docket stated Netflix now had 90 days to adjust to the ruling, after which a penalty of €700 ($800) could be imposed for every day of delay.
Nevertheless, calling the streamer is prone to delay or cease this course of.
Rome’s resolution might turn into a landmark case in Europe the place related lawsuits towards the streamer’s value hikes have been filed in Germany, the Netherlands and Poland, with little or no penalties to this point.
In Could 2025, a single Netflix buyer in Germany gained a lawsuit towards Netflix’s value enhance in a regional court docket in Cologne, which dominated that he must be reimbursed. However this affair has to this point not had wider penalties.
“At Netflix, our members come first. We take shopper rights very significantly and consider our phrases have at all times been according to Italian legislation and follow,” Netflix stated in an announcement.
Based on the most recent figures from Italy’s media watchdog, Netflix had simply over 8 million distinctive customers in Italy in 2024, whereas subscribers stood at 5.4 million in 2025.