A court in Rome has declared subscription fee increases by the streaming service Netflix as illegal and mandated that the company provide refunds to its Italian customers, according to an announcement made Friday by a consumer advocacy organization.
The consumer advocacy group Movimento Consumatori released a statement explaining that the court sided with their legal action against Netflix Italia, finding that contract terms permitting subscription rate hikes between 2017 and January 2024 were unjust.
In response, Netflix announced plans to challenge the court’s ruling through an appeal process. The company stated: “We take consumer rights very seriously and believe our terms have always complied with Italian laws and practice.”
The judicial decision determined that these contract provisions violated Italy’s Consumer Code by permitting modifications without providing legitimate justification within the agreement itself.
Under the court’s order, each customer will receive a decrease in their current monthly fee, reimbursement for excessive payments already made, and potential additional compensation where warranted.
Data from Italy’s telecommunications regulatory body shows Netflix served slightly more than 8 million individual users in Italy during 2024, with paid subscriptions totaling 5.4 million in 2025.
Consumer attorneys Paolo Fiorio and Riccardo Pinna, who handled the legal case, explained the financial impact: “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.”
They further detailed potential refunds: “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.”
The Rome tribunal also mandated that Netflix Italia publish the decision on its website and in major Italian newspapers to notify customers about the voided clauses and their right to compensation.
Netflix operates as the globe’s biggest video streaming platform, providing movies and TV shows in multiple languages to over 190 nations worldwide.
The publicly-traded company, listed on the Nasdaq exchange, maintained a market capitalization of approximately $420 billion in early April 2026 while serving more than 325 million paying customers globally.
