After more than a week of rumours surrounding the apparent crackdown by Netflix on users who access the service via a VPN, new figures released today reveal tens of millions of people watch Netflix from countries where the service isn’t yet officially available.

Last weekend it was widely reported that Netflix had started blocking users from overseas.

However, yesterday, Netflix was forced to issue a statement denying the claims.

Speaking at CES 2015, Netflix’s chief product officer Neil Hunt said: “The claims that we have changed our policy on VPN are false,”

The latest development in the story is that an estimated 30 million people could be accessing the service on a regular basis using location masking software or a VPN.

Figures from the UK based market research organisation GlobalWebIndex, states that in China alone, where Netflix is not officially available, there are more than 20 million users who access Netflix regularly, almost certainly using a VPN to do so, reports The Guardian.

These figures would suggest that should Netflix ban users accessing the on demand internet streaming service via a VPN then it could greatly impact the company financially.

Currently Netflix is officially available in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Mexico, as well as throughout South America and in parts of central Europe.

The service isn’t officially available in Asia or South Africa, two locations GlobalWebIndex says accounts for high amounts of useage of the service.

Netflix plans to launch in Australia and New Zealand in March 2015.

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Source: The Guardian