Netflix has announced it will start automatically closing thousands of inactive accounts. 

Users who have not watched anything in a year or more will receive a notification from the company via email or the app from this week.

The company will be asking if the user wants to continue their subscription with the giant streaming platform.  

But if the user doesn’t respond or if they do want to have their subscription cancelled, Netflix will deactivate the account. 

However, if the user cancels the account and then rejoins within ten months, Netflix will have kept the user’s old viewing history and preferences. 

Product innovation director Eddy Wu wrote in a blog post on Netflix's website: “You know that sinking feeling when you realise you signed up for something but haven't used it in ages? At Netflix, the last thing we want is people paying for something they're not using.

“So we're asking everyone who has not watched anything on Netflix for a year since they joined to confirm they want to keep their membership. And we'll do the same for anyone who has stopped watching for more than two years.”