In early June 2020, an amusing tweet circulated in screenshots on social media, purportedly from a Netflix user whose family discovered his brother’s ex had been “stealing” access to their service via a clever subterfuge — the punchline being that Netflix itself purportedly responded to the tweet to voice their “respect” for the pirate user’s scheme:
In the above screenshot, no dates appeared — just indication that the image was captured between three and four days after the exchange occurred. In the first, a user attached a screenshot of Netflix’s account selection screen, with one of the squares labeled “Settings.” That square contained a “loading” style graphic, and the tweet read:
My brothers ex had been stealing our Netflix for the past two months now by disguising her account as “settings” and honestly I ain’t even mad. I’m just really disappointed in myself for actually believing that an account named “settings” would legitimately be Netflix settings
One day later, Netflix’s verified Twitter account purportedly tweeted a single word response:
Respect.
It’s not uncommon for social media users to fabricate amusing exchanges between brands and customers, and at first glance we didn’t see a “Respect” tweet in @Netflix’s responses. However, the first tweet was certainly real and viral, shared on May 26 2020 by @yellowgengar2:
On May 27 2020, @Netflix did in fact respond to the tweet:
On the same day, @yellowgengar2 mused in the thread:
Netflix wasn’t the only approving thread participant. Others asked who “add account” was, and others indicated they “stan” a “true queen”:
Irrespective of the tale’s veracity, other users opined that @yellowgengar2’s brother had allowed a “good catch” to “get away”:
It’s true a Twitter user claimed their brother’s ex cunningly retained access to their family’s Netflix account by labeling her screen “Settings,” and further true that Netflix responded with a tweet reading simply “Respect.” Whether the story itself was accurate was not immediately clear, but the exchange between @yellowgengar2 and @Netflix was authentic.