An Italian court has ruled that a series of Netflix subscription feeincreases were illegitimate.
It’s ordered the streaming giant to refund subscribers for seven years’ worth of unlawful price hikes.
Customers in Italy are now entitled to payments of between €250-500 (AU$425-850) as compensation for the hikes.
Under Italian consumer law, service providers must have a justifiable reason to increase fees.
Here's what you need to know.
Background
Movimento Consumatori (Consumer Movement) is an Italian consumer rights association.
The organisation advocates for consumer rights across sectors, including telecommunicationsand banking, and takes cases to court on consumers’ behalf.
MC brought a case against Netflix Italia to a Rome court, claiming that Netflix Italia increased its subscription prices without justifying the hikes.
Case
Lawyers for MC claimed that increases occurred in 2017, 2019, 2021, and 2024.
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The court ruled in favour of MC, stating that the fees were increased “without a justified reason”.
Netflix must reimburse premium subscribers around €500 (AU$850), and its standard customers €250 (AU$425).
In 2019, Netflix was estimated to have around 1.9 million Italian customers, growing to 5.4 million in October 2025.
Refunds will cost Netflix a total of between €475 million to €2.7 billion (AU$800million to $4.6 billion).
In a statement to Reuters, Netflix said it intends to appeal the decision, adding that it believes it has always acted “in line with Italian regulations and practices.”
What’s next?
MC President Alessandro Mostaccio said: “If Netflix does not immediately reduce prices and reimburse customers... we will launch a class action to guarantee all users the return of what was unduly paid”.
He added that 25,000 users hadalready complained to MC about the price increases.
Netflix Italia must also reduce its subscription fees to its pre-2017 prices.
