Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued Netflix, accusing the streaming giant of secretly harvesting extensive behavioral data from Texans—including children—while publicly portraying itself as a privacy-focused alternative to other major tech companies.
“When you watch Netflix, Netflix watches you,” the state’s lawsuit declares.
The lawsuit, filed in Collin County under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, alleges Netflix misled consumers for years by claiming it did not rely on advertising or extensive user-data collection while quietly building what the state describes as a “behavioral-surveillance program of staggering scale.”
According to the petition, Netflix repeatedly assured consumers that it was different from companies like Google and Facebook because it did not monetize user data through advertising.
The filing cites statements from Netflix executives, including CEO Reed Hastings, who previously said the company had “no intention of monetizing with ads” and that Netflix did not “collect anything” in the way other major tech companies do.
“Netflix has built a surveillance program designed to illegally collect and profit from Texans’ personal data without their consent, and my office will do everything in our power to stop it,” Paxton said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.
The state alleges Netflix built an extensive logging and analytics system capable of tracking billions of user “events” every day, including viewing habits, pauses, rewatches, searches, scrolling behavior, device information, and household-network data.
The petition cites internal engineering discussions and public technical presentations in which Netflix employees allegedly described the company as “a logging company that occasionally streams movies.”
Paxton’s office also accuses Netflix of misleading parents regarding children’s profiles on the platform. The lawsuit claims Netflix marketed kids’ profiles as safe, segregated environments free from behavioral advertising while still collecting extensive behavioral data on children’s viewing activity.
The filing further alleges Netflix intentionally designed platform features, like autoplay, to maximize viewing time and keep children and families engaged longer in order to collect more data.
In addition to seeking civil penalties and injunctive relief, the lawsuit asks the court to require Netflix to disable autoplay by default on children’s profiles.
The petition also claims Netflix eventually pivoted into the same advertising ecosystem it had publicly criticized, partnering with advertising and data firms including Experian, Acxiom, Google Display & Video 360, and The Trade Desk to help target and measure advertising campaigns using Netflix user data.
Netflix has denied the allegations and says its privacy practices comply with applicable laws.
In a statement to Texas Scorecard, a Netflix spokesperson said 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 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.”
