MILAN, April 3 (Reuters) - A Rome court has ruled as unlawful price increases imposed by Netflix on its Italian subscribers over the last seven years, and has ordered the U.S. media giant to reimburse them, a consumer association said on Friday.
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 from 2017 to January 2024.
Netflix said in a statement that it would appeal against the court's decision. "We take consumer rights very seriously and believe our terms have always complied with Italian laws and practice," it added.
BREACH OF THE NATIONAL CONSUMER CODE
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.
The ruling said each subscriber would be entitled to a reduction in the current subscription price, reimbursement of sums unduly paid and, where applicable, compensation.
According to latest data from Italy's communications authority, Netflix had just over 8 million unique users in Italy in 2024, while subscribers stood at 5.4 million in 2025.
"For the Premium Plan, the unlawful increases applied in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2024 amount to 8 euros ($9.22) a month, while for the Standard Plan the total is 4 euros a 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 day is entitled to a refund of about 500 euros, while a Standard subscriber is due a refund of about 250 euros," they added.
The Rome court also ordered that the ruling be published on Netflix Italia's website and in the leading national newspapers to inform consumers that the clauses were void and that they were entitled to reimbursement.
Netflix is the world's largest video streaming company, offering films and television series in dozens of languages across more than 190 countries.
Listed on the Nasdaq, it had a market value of about $420 billion in early April 2026 and more than 325 million paid subscribers worldwide.
($1 = 0.8678 euros)
(Reporting by Emilio Parodi, editing by Crispian Balmer and Barbara Lewis)
