Sign in to access user reviews

@Michelle​ This comes a big, sudden surprise to me, and a very unwelcome one. Being able to read reviews is nearly as essential to me, and I think most casual users, as being able to see and read basic movie details like cast and crew, trivia, awards, connections etc.

Or will these features slowly but surely also be restricted to registered users? 

Please take into account that being able to interact with the review section, like writing, editing or reporting, has always been restricted to registered users, so this doesn't explain the change. 

A legitimate reason could be, that user reviews (should) convey genuine, personal views, which unfortunately can now be harvested and abused freely by A.I., and regenerated as 'new' opinions here and elsewhere. 

This is a very real problem for all online content of course, which I can imagine has far greater impact than just the user review section.

Is this your way of trying to protect our authorship?

With best regards,

Richard

@Michelle​ thank you for the information. Of course it makes me sad that it's not just a bug, but an intended change :(. I had hopes, hehe.

Have a nice day.

Regards

Andreas

@Michelle​ 

This, "This extra step is part of our ongoing effort to keep IMDb's reviews a space for genuine, human voices," response is BS from Amazon. As always, Amazon prioritizes data collection, and its bottom line - over consumer experience (e.g. Amazon's Rufus AI disaster).

Amazon should stop absorbing actually useful services like IMDB if they're only going to kneecap them for consumers.

There's no legitimate user-facing reason for this change, other than Amazon's desire to collect ever more telemetry data from consumers.

Shameful.

@Michelle​ The reason given for now requiring registration - just to merely SEE the reviews - makes no sense, as others have pointed out. So we are left to conclude what the real reason is: IMDb wants to collect personal information from more of their visitors so they can sell it to third parties. Also, marketers can learn things about us as individuals from knowing which films and TV shows interest us enough that we click to read user reviews about them. But IMDb will soon find itself losing more than it gains once people start spending less time engaged on the site as a result (or even no longer visiting for the minimal remaining information that can always be found elsewehere.)

I still hope it's about protecting personal contributors' content, but it's up to the staff to properly explain. As IMDb so heavily relies on data and opinions provided by users and insiders (IMBb doesn't feature any staff-produced reviews or other editorial content, as far as I know, unlike some other media sites), it's vitally important for them to retain user loyalty. 

Yes, users can provide IMDb links to external reviews, which may be of higher quality, but these are often hidden behind paywalls, or else will produce mostly dead links after some years, due to all these rampant takeovers, bankruptcies, layout revisions and 'old' content scrubbing.

I'd also like to remind the staff that comparable media databases, like AllMovie, The Movie DB, Rotten Tomatoes, MUBI, MovieChat, Letterboxd, MovieMeter, TVTropes, AllMusic etc. all feature publicly accessible user reviews - though these aren't meant to be quality endorsements. 

As for user preference tracking, I think most of us know by now that companies collect cookies anyway when you haven't even registered at a site, so? 

@Michelle​ 

Michelle:We're updating how you access user reviews on IMDb

which will require you to sign in to view, report reviews. 

This is not a good idea 😫

sign in to  write, edit  reviews.

Is OK 😀

- - -

https://community-imdb.sprinklr.com/conversations/imdbcom/imdb-name-page-redesign/6351563ae7100d725d54c0bb?commentId=63878b2b038ef261b8f4b7fb&replyId=6387e1b00693e36e8a570bfa

Col_Needham,Employee

Wednesday, November 30th, 2022

@ACT_1​ 

and Many that do not register!!

Correct, registered customers make-up only a fraction of our userbase. 

IMDb has over 200 million unique visitors per month

(and that's visitors not visits, the latter being significantly higher).  

.

@Richard_J​

Reffering to your statement: 

"As for user preference tracking, I think most of us know by now that companies collect cookies anyway when you haven't even registered at a site, so? "

PS: Cookies are not registered if you for example  have sett up your browser to delete all of them every time you close your browser for example. Or if you look at the site in a private tab. Or if you every day before you close your computer for the day deletes all new cookies from the last 24H (thus keeping cookies for logins etc, but deletes all new cookies). etc, etc,etc. 

I personally use IMDb logged in anyway, but I know lotts of people who don't, including elderly people who don't have the capacity to logg inn, and people who don't want to logg inn etc.etc.

And the adds will still show for people not logged inn, so there would still be income from unregistered users also. 

@Richard_J​ Yes, cookies can be user-managed by those who bother to do it.  They affect what ads will appear on a page for you, but they also store a record of everything you browsed on the site.  So the problem here is that IMDb now wants your activity (all of it) to be connected with a personally identifiable individual, using the ability to see the reviews as a lure.  We all agree that requiring registration might be warranted for visitors who want to WRITE reviews, or request edits to the database, but why for mere visitors who don't go beyond looking at the reviews (and seeing ads)? There seems to be no benign reason for IMDb wanting to do this that could stand up to logical scrutiny. And, as I said, there are privacy implications when our personal information reaches third parties, whether they have some trusted affiliation with IMDb or not. 

@Michelle​ 

IMDb counts how many Reviews are read

This number will drop way low

if Readers need to Register

(Fewer folks will be reading your ads!!)

.

I just noticed this. Such a disappointment.

@jeorj_euler​ 

Jeorj Euler

Joined Nov 2000

https://www.imdb.com/user/ur0932020/

Now goes to

https://www.imdb.com/user/p.k7prgmxdtupd5l6cgvns5x4sne

.

11,421,500 reviews

Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen

Review by MrCluckCluck

Apr 25, 2026

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32937780/review/rw11421500/

https://www.imdb.com/user/p.ktldha7b5xxneth7v2glasqrii/

_ _ _

214,524,000 Users registered

Jackson-4652

Joined Apr 2026

https://www.imdb.com/user/ur214524000/

https://www.imdb.com/user/p.2sgtb3krtez24hsdqilyd5bjn4

_ _ _ _ _

41,808,900 Titles

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt41808900/reference/

The Hopeful Humanist Cafe

Episode 57 - BOOMPF ..."It's Create a Word Day!"

Podcast Episode  November 22, 2020

---

ACT_1:

Podcasts are added late and have no Cast & Crew

Why are they here??

16,203,686 Podcasts

https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?title_type=podcast_episode

_ _ _ _

Michael

April 24, 2026 (United States)

Jaafar Jackson : Michael

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11,378,946/reference/

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11378946/reviews/

1,143 reviews

_ _ _ _ 

4,176,610,910 Lists

https://www.imdb.com/list/ls4176610910/

dgranger

Created Sunday, April 26th, 2026

What is The Best Disaster Movie on a Spaceship or in Space?

.

I noticed that in addition to the matter of topic.

@KevBennett​ There is no personal info attached to Users, they want either
- to provoke people to create accounts to increase participation this way
- or more likely to prevent LLM's to short feed info, so basically a visit to LLM steals a visit (and money) from IMDB
It's classical Internet story nowadays, and even a bit of valid concern, but overall User reviews are not IMDB property and should not be monetised (too much) nor by IMDB nor by LLM's, so probably should be reverted back to always visible.

@EternalMoment​ 

Ah... but now there WILL be personal info attached to your IMDB account once you register. What IMDB already knows about your viewing habits and personal taste in films & TV, will be merged with everything Amazon knows about you. That personal info includes name, address, email, credit card, everything  you ever ordered, and your interests as reflected further by your browsing history.

As for search summaries keeping people from visiting the site, restricting the reading of reviews would do nothing to mitigate that problem. People search the Internet for a show or film to pin down basic info about it, not for one person's opinion mentioned in a review buried within the site. (And if it actually did show in a summary, such detail is only more likely to  intrigue the person and encourage a visit in the hope of seeing more such discussion.) In any case, it should be obvious that restricting engagement with IMDB, whether by people or web crawlers, is hardly the way to increase participation.

@KevBennett​ 

That personal info includes name, address, email, credit card, everything  you ever ordered, and your interests as reflected further by your browsing history.

Nothing of that if you use email login / IMDB account (and never bought anything), which is probably majority of users due to historical reasons.
On top of that, personal data have lower value compared to how rating manipulation and first page previews can bring. IMDB simply don't need all this, they have more straightforward ways to monetise.

As for search summaries keeping people from visiting the site, restricting the reading of reviews would do nothing to mitigate that problem. People search the Internet for a show or film to pin down basic info about it, not for one person's opinion mentioned in a review buried within the site.

LLM's are smart enough to understand that it's not rating that matters (fake), not random of highlighted reviews (LLM generated), but specifically the recent reviews (filtered). Currently they have highest value information of all the info on IMDB specifically about recent shows. 
It is reasonable that LLM's won't be able to give a good summary about a show reviews when this is blocked.

@EternalMoment​ It's hard to follow what you are saying. You seem to not underrstand that subscribing to IMDB can now be done only through the person's Amazon account. It can no longer be done with just an email address.  And the issue in this current topic is not the "value" of reviews to anyone except the users who want to read them and are now unable to do that unless they "subscribe"-  through Amazon.. True, IMDB probably has no way to abuse the subscriber's personal information it might get from its Amazon partner, but the reverse is the problem:  Most of us do not want to accept Amazon accessing our IMDB activity and adding that to its growing database, just so we can continue reading reviews as before.

@KevBennett​ Very good points, well reasoned! I have another, more practical issue with my Amazon-based IMDb account, which makes me wish I could register again without it. 

I have been an Amazon store customer for more than 20 years, so in that respect no fundamental problem here - so far. But current intrusive big tech developments keep me on the alert.

What's complicating this exclusive registration, practically speaking, is that I access all web stores and conduct all other financial transactions inside a specially protected browser, which doesn't store cookies, usernames and passwords, blocks pop-up windows, downloads and screenshots, limits page searches etc.

I believe this is a bothersome but essential online precaution I don't want to skip or interrupt, but, you guessed it, having to go through this every time I want to access IMDb reviews, or submit even the tiniest IMDb addition or correction is a terrible nuisance which almost puts me off. 

@KevBennett​ 

@EternalMoment​ that subscribing to IMDB can now be done only through the person's Amazon account. It can no longer be done with just an email address.

I actually had no idea about that. If that's correct, your position starts to be reasonable to random readers.
And 2nd sign that IMDB no longer have long term commitment, only short term max value extraction.

@EternalMoment​ 

https://help.imdb.com/article/imdb/general-information/use-your-amazon-account-for-imdb/GAW6LFMJ8HBGPKXL