Netflix price increases deemed illegal by Italian court
A court in Rome has ruled that Netflix’s price increases in Italy are illegal. The decision sides with a consumer advocacy group that claims the streaming giant broke local rules by raising prices for its services between 2017 and 2024 and that customers are entitled to refunds.
The ruling in Rome comes days after Netflix announced on March 26 that it was raising prices for its three plans in the US for the second time in just over a year.
In a statement, Netflix said it will appeal the Rome court’s April 1 ruling, which has no immediate effect.
Italian consumer organization Movimento Consumatori said in a statement that the court in Rome had ruled in its favor because it considered Netflix’s price increases in Italy between 2017 and 2024 as a breach of the country’s national consumer law. The code states that price changes cannot be implemented unilaterally without giving a valid reason in advance. Italy’s consumer protection laws place a limit on the discretionary power companies have to increase prices to ensure they are fair.
The Rome ruling also states that Netflix Italia subscribers are entitled to a reduction in their current subscription price and must be reimbursed for past subscription fees paid in error.
It ordered the ruling to be published on Netflix Italia’s website and in the country’s major newspapers to inform consumers that their current contractual clauses were null and void and that they were entitled to a refund.
“For the Premium Plan, the unlawful increases applied in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2024 amount to €8 ($9.22) per month, while for the Standard Plan the total amounts to €4 per month,” said lawyers Paolo Fiorio and Riccardo Pinna, who represented consumers in the case. “A Premium subscriber who has paid for Netflix continuously from 2017 to the present is entitled to a refund of approximately €500 ($577), while a Standard subscriber is due a refund of approximately €250 ($288).”
The court in Rome said Netflix now has 90 days to comply with the ruling, after which it will be fined €700 ($800) for each day of delay.
However, the streamer’s call will likely slow or stop that process.
Rome’s ruling could become a landmark in Europe, where similar legal action against the streamer’s price hikes has been taken in Germany, the Netherlands and Poland, with little or no impact so far.
In May 2025, a single Netflix customer in Germany won a case against Netflix’s price increases at a regional court in Cologne, which ruled that he should be refunded. But that case has not had broader implications so far.
“At Netflix, our members come first. We take consumer rights very seriously and we believe that our terms have always been in line with Italian law and practices,” Netflix said in a statement.
According to the latest figures from the Italian media watchdog, Netflix had just over 8 million unique users in Italy in 2024, while the number of subscribers reached 5.4 million in 2025.
