“Netflix’s years-long bait-and-switch has led the company right to where it promised never to be: addicting children and families to its platform, mining those users for data, and then converting that data into lucrative intelligence for global advertising juggernauts,” the lawsuit says.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against Netflix, accusing the online streaming service of spying on children and designing its platform to be as addictive as possible.
“Netflix is not the ad-free and kid-friendly platform it claims to be,” Paxton said in a statement. “Instead, it has misled customers while exploiting their private data to make billions.”
“When you watch Netflix,” the lawsuit says, “Netflix watches you.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for Netflix said that the lawsuit “lacks merit and is based on inaccurate and distorted information.”
“Respectfully to the great state of Texas and Attorney General Paxton, this lawsuit lacks merit and is based on inaccurate and distorted information,” the spokesperson said.”
“Netflix takes our members’ privacy seriously and complies with privacy and data‑protection laws everywhere we operate,” they said. “We look forward to addressing the Texas Attorney General’s allegations in court and further explaining our industry-leading, kid‑friendly parental controls and transparent privacy practices.”
According to The Guardian, Paxton’s lawsuit claims that Netflix has built a “surveillance machinery” that actively tracks and logs users’ viewing habits, preferences, devices, household networks, application usage, and “other sensitive behavioral data.”
“Netflix’s years-long bait-and-switch has led the company right to where it promised never to be: addicting children and families to its platform, mining those users for data, and then converting that data into lucrative intelligence for global advertising juggernauts,” the lawsuit says.
In court filings, Paxton cited comments made by former Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who in 2020 said that the company did not integrate user data.
“We don’t collect anything,” Hastings said. “We’re really focused on just making our members happy, and we’re not tied up with all that controversy around advertising.”
The lawsuit claims that Netflix abused consumers’ trust.
“Netflix sold subscriptions to its programming as an escape from Big Tech surveillance: pay monthly, avoid tracking,” the lawsuit alleges. “Texans trusted that bargain. Netflix broke it—constructing the very data-collection system subscribers paid to escape.”
“For years,” it continues, “Netflix’s leadership told the world it had ‘zero interest’ in advertising … and styled itself as the anti-Big Ad Tech refuse. But once Netflix had stockpiled user data under those promises, it flipped the script and build an ads business that mirrors everything it once attacked.”
Paxton said that Netflix’s “endgame” is getting users hooked on its platform.
“Netflix’s endgame is simple and lucrative: get children and families glued to the screen, harvest their data while they are struck there, and then monetize the data for a handsome profit,” the lawsuit alleges
Sources
‘Netflix Watches You’: Lawsuit Accuses Streaming Giant of Spying on Users
Texas accuses Netflix of ‘spying’ on children and designing ‘addictive’ features in new suit
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