Texas sues Netflix for allegedly spying on children and poisoning users
Netflix was sued Monday (May 11) by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, accusing the streaming company of collecting data on children and other consumers without their consent and spying on them by designing their platform to be addictive. Reported by Ram Nabon.
Netflix is fighting back against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s new lawsuit. The company has condemned spying on children as “useless” and based on “distorted information”.
In a statement to USA TODAY, the streaming platform responded to Paxton’s lawsuit filed on Monday, May 11, alleging that Netflix illegally tracks and records user data (including children’s profiles) and sells it to build consumer profiles.
“With all due respect to the great state of Texas and Attorney General Paxton, this lawsuit is baseless and based on inaccurate and distorted information. Netflix takes the privacy of our members seriously and we comply with privacy and data protection laws everywhere we do business,” the statement said.
The lawsuit, filed in Collin County District Court, alleges:
- Netflix tracks and records your viewing habits, preferences, devices, home network, application usage, and other sensitive behavioral data across both adult and child accounts.
- Netflix then uses this data to build detailed consumer profiles, which it sells to other companies and profits from those sales.
- Netflix has also designed its platform to be addictive, including features such as autoplay.
Netflix has indicated it intends to fight the lawsuit in court.
“We look forward to addressing the Texas Attorney General’s complaint in court and further explaining our industry-leading child-friendly parental controls and transparent privacy practices,” Netflix’s statement concluded.
Mateo Rosiles is a Texas Connect reporter for USA TODAY and local Texas newspapers. Do you have any news tips for him? Email him: mrosiles@usatodayco.com.
