A Rome court has ruled that increases imposed by Netflix on its Italian subscribers over the last seven years were “unlawful”, and has ordered the US streaming giant to reimburse them.
Italian court rules Netflix price rises “unlawful”
April 7, 2026
Consumer group Movimento Consumatori said in a statement that the court had upheld its lawsuit against Netflix Italia and deemed unfair clauses that allowed subscription price increases between 2017 and 2024.
Netflix immediately said that it would appeal against the court’s ruling, noting in a press statement: “We will appeal the decision. At Netflix, our subscribers come first. We take consumers’ rights very seriously and we believe that our conditions have always been in line with Italian regulations and practices”.
The court held that the clauses were unfair because, in breach of the national Consumer Code, they allowed changes to be made without stating a valid reason in the contract, reported Reuters.
Netflix subscribers in the country stood at around 5.4 million in 2025. They could now be owed up to €500 in refunds depending on the length of their subscription during the various price increases. Each eligible subscriber is also entitled to a reduction of their current subscription price.
“For the Premium Plan, the unlawful increases applied in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2024 amount to €8 a month, while for the Standard Plan the total is €4 a month,” said lawyers Paolo Fiorio and Riccardo Pinna, who represented consumers in the case, adding: “A Premium subscriber who has paid for Netflix continuously from 2017 to the present day is entitled to a refund of about €500, while a Standard subscriber is due a refund of about €250.”
The Rome court also ordered that the ruling be published on Netflix Italia’s website.
Netflix now has 90 days to comply with the notification and price-reduction obligations, or risk penalties for non-compliance.