Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a 59-page lawsuit against Netflix in a Dallas-area state court on Monday, accusing the streaming company of improperly collecting user data, including data from children, without consent. [1, 2, 3, 4]
The suit says Netflix tracked and logged viewing habits, preferences and other behavioral data, then shared or sold that information to advertisers or data brokers. It also alleges the platform was built to be addictive, using autoplay and other “dark pattern” design features to keep users watching. [5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4]
Paxton said, “When you watch Netflix, Netflix watches you.” Netflix rejected the claims and said it would fight the case in court. In a statement, the company said, “Netflix takes our members' privacy seriously and complies with privacy and data protection laws everywhere we operate,” and said the lawsuit “lacks merit and is based on inaccurate and distorted information.” [5, 7, 1, 3]
The lawsuit relies on the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and seeks court orders to delete allegedly deceptively collected data, stop processing consumer data for targeted advertising, and turn off autoplay by default for children’s profiles. One report said the complaint seeks civil penalties of up to US$10,000 per violation. [5, 1, 2, 3]
Reports on the case were published on Tuesday in English- and Chinese-language outlets. [5, 7, 6, 1, 2, 3, 4]
