The Minister of Culture has done her job and expanded access to culture – but not in the way you might think.

Nadine Dorries told a select committee yesterday that she shares her Netflix account with her relatives, and that’s not exactly allowed by the platform.

“I always thought it was like that [an] incredibly generous system it has to give other people access if you have an account,” she said. “I mean, my mom has access to my account, my kids do. I have Netflix but there are four other people who can use my Netflix account in different parts of the country.”

Dorries was then apparently told by Sarah Healey, the department’s permanent secretary, that sharing passwords for the service was not allowed.

“Shouldn’t I do that?” asked Dorries, laughing.

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Not really. Netflix’s terms of service state that users must live together to share access to a paid account.

In April, Netflix indicated it would take action against households that share passwords, as the number of households using the streaming service fell by 200,000 in the first three months of the year.

The streaming giant estimates more than 100 million households watch the service for free with shared passwords, and in Chile, Costa Rica and Peru account holders are already paying to add user profiles for people outside their household.

Elsewhere in the meeting, Dorries shared her unflattering opinion of Channel 4 News given plans to privatize the channel. “It’s nervous. I will not justify any news program whose news anchors roared obscenities about the Conservative Party,” she said. “Well, you know, sometimes they don’t do themselves any favors, the news show. ”

She also claimed that 96 per cent of the consultation responses support Channel 4’s privatisation. SNP MP John Nicolson pointed out that she got it wrong and that 96 percent opposed the channel’s sale.

As for their Netflix offense, we got in touch with the platform to see what they make of it.

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