Netflix sued by Texas for allegedly spying on children, addicting users

DALLAS, Texas – Netflix was sued on May 11 by Texas Attorney-General Ken Paxton, who accused the streaming company of spying on children and other consumers by collecting their data without consent, and designing its platform to be addictive.

Texas said Netflix has for years falsely represented to consumers that it did not collect or share user data, when it actually tracked and sold viewers’ habits and preferences to commercial data brokers and advertising technology companies, making 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 show ends.

Netflix did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Many companies, including social media and other businesses with strong online presences, are targets of lawsuits accusing them of quietly tracking users and selling the resulting data to third parties, who use the data for advertising.

Texas’ complaint quoted former Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings as saying in 2020 “we don’t collect anything,” as he sought to distinguish Netflix from Amazon.com, Facebook and Google with regard to data collection.

“Netflix’s endgame is simple and lucrative: get children and families glued to the screen, harvest their data while they are stuck there, and then monetise the data for a handsome profit,” according to Texas’ complaint filed in a state court in Collin County, near Dallas. “When you watch Netflix, Netflix watches you,” the complaint added.

Mr Paxton said Netflix’s alleged surveillance violates the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

He wants the company to purge data it collected illegally, not use the data for targeted advertising without users’ consent, and pay civil fines of up to US$10,000 (S$12,665) per violation.

Mr Paxton, a Republican, is running for the US Senate, challenging incumbent Republican Senator John Cornyn. REUTERS