Texas Attorney
General Ken Paxton has sued Netflix for allegedly violating a state consumer protection law by "spying" on viewers, and by implementing "addictive" design features, such as videos that play
automatically.
"Netflix promised Texans entertainment and delivered surveillance," Paxton alleges in a complaint filed Monday in Collin County District Court.
Paxton added in a post on X, "I just sued Netflix for spying on Texas kids and consumers by illegally collecting users' data without their knowledge or
consent."
The complaint includes allegations that Netflix wrongly lured people into subscribing by representing that it didn't collect tracking data.
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"Netflix sold subscriptions to its programming as an escape from Big Tech surveillance: pay monthly, avoid tracking," Paxton alleges.
"Texans trusted that
bargain. Netflix broke it -- constructing the very data-collection system subscribers paid to escape," the complaint continues.
Paxton specifically alleges that since at least
2018, Netflix "failed to clearly tell users" how it handled their data.
The complaint references a decision by the Dutch Data Protection Authority, which fined Netflix around $5 million in 2024 over alleged violations of Europe's
General Data Protection Regulation between 2018 and 2020. Specifically, the regulator found that during those years, Netflix failed to give customers "sufficient information about what it did with
their personal data."
Paxton also alleges that when Netflix rolled out an ad-supported tier in 2022, the company revised its privacy policy but omitted key details. The 2022 policy allegedly
"introduced high-level terms about behavioral advertising and choices," but lacked information about "scope of first-party behavioral logging that underpins ad measurement" as well as "details on who
receives or can model against the data Netflix harvests."
Additionally, Netflix "deceptively designs its platform to be addictive" by implementing features like automatically
playing videos, the complaint alleges.
"Netflix uses autoplay to intentionally strip away the natural breaking points that queue a user to step away from their screen," the
complaint asserts.
Paxton adds that autoplay on children's accounts "undermines parents’ control of their children’s screen time."
Social
platforms including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok are facing similar
allegations in lawsuits across the country. Among other arguments, those companies have said they have a First Amendment right to determine how to display content.
Paxton
is seeking fines and an injunction requiring Netflix to destroy data "deceptively" collected from Texas residents, refrain from using data for targeted advertising directed at Texas residents without
their "express, informed consent," and to turn autoplay off by default for children's profiles, among other remedies.
A Netflix spokesperson stated Monday that the lawsuit
"lacks merit and is based on inaccurate and distorted information."
"Netflix takes our members’ privacy seriously and complies with privacy and data-protection laws
everywhere we operate," the spokesperson stated.