{"id":8302,"date":"2026-04-07T13:22:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T13:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/8302\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T13:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T13:22:09","slug":"netflixs-italy-price-hike-ruling-may-lead-to-more-eu-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/8302\/","title":{"rendered":"Netflix’s Italy Price Hike Ruling May Lead to More EU Challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"

Netflix and other streamers have become notorious for streaming price hikes \u2014 a phenomenon that\u2019s been appropriately dubbed streamflation<\/a>. But Italy is not letting it slide, with a court order that requires Netflix to not only pay as much as $2.3 billion in refunds and damages to impacted consumers, but to roll back multiple price hikes implemented over the last decade.<\/p>\n

But this just might be the start.<\/p>\n

Experts tell TheWrap the ruling is part of a rising tide of planned or ongoing litigation from EU countries, and may prompt the European Commission to investigate whether broader action into content providers may be needed. <\/p>\n

For Netflix, this could impact a significant chunk of the more than 101 million subscribers it counts in its Europe, Middle East and Africa, or EMEA, region. Netflix stopped breaking out subscriber figures publicly at the end of 2024, but has surpassed the milestone of 325 million globally.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe practical takeaway is that Europe is now the real legal risk for Netflix\u2019s pricing model, while U.S. subscribers are unlikely to see anything comparable absent a significant shift in federal consumer protection law,\u201d Braden Perry, a regulatory and government investigations attorney, told TheWrap.<\/p>\n

Germany and Spain\u2019s respective consumer protection groups have already taken similar legal actions, he noted, while Poland\u2019s consumer protection authority has opened an investigation<\/a> with potential fines of 10% of annual turnover.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Italy ruling isn\u2019t a Roman peculiarity,\u201d Perry added. \u201cIt will embolden consumer organizations across every EU jurisdiction where Netflix raised prices without specifying the contractual grounds for doing so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stefano Bonini, an associate professor of finance at Stevens Institute of Technology, said he\u2019s \u201cabsolutely certain\u201d that the European Commission would also look into the matter, but noted it could take awhile as they investigate Netflix\u2019s pricing strategy across the EU.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they haven\u2019t already, they will look into that and see if this is common practice that has been used systematically across countries to circumvent existing regulation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The timing of the ruling comes as Netflix hiked prices across its U.S. plans for the second time in over a year after its $83 billion deal for Warner Bros. Discovery\u2019s studio and streaming assets fell apart. But given Italy\u2019s consumer protection laws are more comprehensive and much stricter than the U.S., experts said it\u2019s unlikely that customers here would get any relief.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A Netflix spokesperson told TheWrap it would appeal the court\u2019s decision, adding that it takes consumer rights \u201cvery seriously\u201d and believes its terms have \u201calways \u200bcomplied with Italian laws and practice.\u201d Representatives for the EC did not immediately return TheWrap\u2019s request for comment on this story.<\/p>\n

A court ruling against Netflix<\/p>\n

On Friday, a court in Rome upheld a lawsuit filed by the consumer group Movimento Consumatori and invalidated clauses that allowed Netflix subscription prices and other contractual terms to be changed between 2017 and January 2024. It also declared that Netflix price increases implemented in 2017, 2019, 2021 and November 2024 (with the exception of increases related to contracts signed after January 2024) were unlawful.<\/p>\n

As a result, impacted subscribers will be entitled to a reduction in the current subscription price, as well as a refund and up to $2.3 billion \u2014 or 2 billion Euros \u2014 in damages.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The court has also ordered Netflix to publish the content of the ruling on its website and in major national newspapers and to inform all consumers, including those who had canceled their subscriptions, of the invalidity of the clauses and of their right to a refund. Failure to do so within 90 days could result in a penalty of \u20ac700 for each day of delay.<\/p>\n

Movimento Consumatori\u2019s lawyers Paolo Fiorio and Riccardo Pinna estimate that the premium plan increase amounts to \u20ac8 per month, while the standard plan increase amounts to \u20ac4 per month. A premium customer who activated the subscription in 2017 and now pays \u20ac19.99 is entitled to the same service for \u20ac11.99 under the order, while a standard customer who pays \u20ac13.99 will have to pay only \u20ac9.99.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They added that a premium plan subscriber who has paid for Netflix continuously since 2017 is entitled to a refund of about \u20ac500, while a standard plan subscriber is entitled to a refund of about \u20ac250. It\u2019s estimated that Netflix has 5.4 million subscribers in Italy as of October, up from 1.9 million in 2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Based on that total subscriber figure and an average refund of \u20ac375, Netflix could owe Italian subscribers more than \u20ac2 billion, or about $2.3 billion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Movimento Consumatori argued that if Netflix intends to put the rights of its subscribers and consumers first, it should \u201crespect the Rome Court ruling and provide refunds, thus saving itself from massive class-action and individual litigation that will last years, damaging its reputation and resulting trust.\u201d <\/p>\n

The firm, which has launched an online form to join a class-action lawsuit, noted that over 25,000 consumers have contacted the association in an effort to get refunds and that more are likely calling Netflix and other consumer associations directly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Netflix does not immediately reduce prices and refund customers, we will launch a class action lawsuit to ensure all users receive the refund of the amounts unduly paid,\u201d Movimento Consumatori President Alessandro Mostaccio added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Ben\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

What does this mean for the EU and U.S.?<\/p>\n

Netflix will fight the decision, but even if it loses, don\u2019t expect the company to radically change\u00a0 how it operates globally, Bonini said. He said the streaming giant could make minor changes or clarifications to their policies in an effort to mitigate future legal challenges.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Bonini said he expects Netflix will try to negotiate a settlement to lower the overall reimbursement payout to consumers and fight to keep the current pricing in place.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNetflix can always say, \u2018There\u2019s been tremendous inflation from 2017 to 2024 when this was done. I should have given a heads up or allowed for more ability to cancel, but at the end of the day as a market participant, I am free to set the price wherever I want\u2019,\u201d Bonini said. \u201cThey will never roll it back to the original price, that is for sure, they\u2019re going to fight that. But they can say, \u2018Whoever wants to cancel can cancel tomorrow and I\u2019ll give them the money back and we\u2019ll see how many people are really willing to give up Netflix.\u2019 I don\u2019t think there would be a lot of people.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Expect even less movement in the U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tre Lovell, an entertainment and business lawyer, said the Italy ruling is unlikely to translate to the U.S. given that companies can make unilateral changes to contracts and are typically offered more leeway so long as they are being transparent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe U.S. consumer protection laws, although they\u2019re good, are not quite as strict. They pretty much allow companies like Netflix to do price increases as long as there\u2019s plenty of notice and you give the subscriber a chance to cancel,\u201d Lovell told TheWrap. \u201cItaly requires Netflix to put inside its initial subscriber agreement a justification for raising rates. The language that, \u2018Hey, we have the right to do it,\u2019 is not enough to replace a justification for it. And if they don\u2019t have that, then it\u2019s unconscionable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general have the authority to enforce Unfair, Deceptive or Abusive Acts or Practice (UDAP\/UDAAP) laws, Perry said that \u201cneither has shown appetite for treating streaming price increases as actionable unfairness.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

It comes down to a difference in how the EU and U.S. view those terms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe EU treats unfair contract terms as a substantive consumer right that courts can enforce collectively,\u201d Perry said. \u201cThe U.S. treats subscription pricing as a matter of contract, and the contract itself routes disputes into individual arbitration where class-wide remedies aren\u2019t available.\u201d<\/p>\n

TheWrap\u2019s Tess Patton contributed to this report<\/p>\n

\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Emily-in-Paris\"\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Netflix and other streamers have become notorious for streaming price hikes \u2014 a phenomenon that\u2019s been appropriately dubbed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[39,40,485],"class_list":["post-8302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-eu","tag-eu","tag-european-union","tag-netflix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}