Texas sued Netflix on Monday, accusing the streaming company of spying on children and designing its platform to be addictive.
Ken Paxton, the attorney general of Texas, said that for years Netflix has falsely represented to consumers that it did not collect or share user data, when in reality it tracked and sold viewers’ habits and preferences to commercial data brokers and ad technology companies, earning billions of dollars a year.
The Los Gatos, California-based company was also accused of quietly using “dark patterns” to keep users watching, including an autoplay feature that starts a new show when a different one ends. Netflix did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The company issued a statement in response: “Respectfully to the great state of Texas and Attorney General Paxton, this lawsuit is meritless and based on inaccurate and distorted information. Netflix takes our members’ privacy seriously and complies with privacy and data protection laws everywhere we operate. We look forward to addressing the Texas Attorney General’s allegations in court and further explaining our child-friendly parental controls and transparent, industry-leading privacy practices.”
The Texas lawsuit follows a series of lawsuits targeting technology companies for features that plaintiffs say are addictive and dangerous to children. In March, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and YouTube responsible for designing addictive products that had harmed young people, opening the floodgates for thousands of similar lawsuits that will be decided later this year. Texas cites the California verdict as precedent.
Paxton said Netflix marketed itself as a safe haven for data-hungry social networks when, in reality, it was engaged in similar data collection.
“For years, Netflix leaders told the world it had no interest in advertising…and called itself the anti-Big Ad Tech haven,” according to the complaint. “But once Netflix accumulated user data in line with those promises, it flipped the script and created an advertising business that mirrors everything it once attacked.”
The Texas complaint quotes Reed Hastings, former CEO of Netflix, saying in 2020 that “we don’t collect anything,” while seeking to distinguish Netflix from Amazon, Facebook and Google with respect to data collection.
“Netflix’s ultimate goal is simple and lucrative: get kids and families glued to the screen, collect their data while they’re stuck there, and then monetize the data for a sizable profit,” according to the Texas lawsuit filed in state court in Collin County, near Dallas. “When you watch Netflix, Netflix watches you,” the complaint adds. Paxton said Netflix’s alleged surveillance violates the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
It wants the company to delete data it collected illegally, not use it for targeted advertising without users’ consent, and pay civil fines of up to $10,000 per violation.
Paxton, a Republican, is running for the U.S. Senate, challenging incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn.
