Texas targets Netflix over data collection, autoplay feature

(CN) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is taking legal action against Netflix, claiming the streaming service giant is spying on Texans by illegally gathering users’ data without their knowledge.

In a lawsuit filed Monday morning, Paxton said Netflix misrepresented to consumers that it didn’t collect or share user data for years.

The attorney general references remarks made by Reed Hastings, the former Netflix CEO and co-founder, during a 2020 earnings call where Hastings said his company wasn’t controversial in how it integrated individuals’ data — a distinction that differentiated Netflix from companies like Amazon, Google and Facebook.

“We don’t collect anything,” Hastings added. “We’re really focused on just making our members happy, and we’re not tied up with all that controversy around advertising.”

In actuality, Paxton claims the company began doing the opposite of what it promised after pivoting to digital advertising in 2022. The attorney general details how Netflix began using the heaps of data it had been quietly collecting about subscribers’ streaming habits and preferences to sell to commercial data brokers and advertising technology companies — making the company billions — and in doing so, Netflix joined the ranks of companies that use controversial data-collection practices that company leaders had criticized years prior.

From 2018 to 2026, Netflix’s annual revenue more than tripled from around $15 billion to over $50 billion, and its paid memberships grew from around 130 million households to more than 300 million, according to Paxton.

“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,” said Paxton, also a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate.

To accomplish this, Paxton notes Netflix discreetly uses dark patterns to design its service to ensure the platform is addictive — engineered to manipulate users through features like autoplay. The autoplay feature is on by default for each profile, including kids’ profiles, and starts a new movie or show when the previous one ends. The attorney general called this feature a “vise grip,” designed to keep users glued to their screens so their data can be harvested and sold.

Paxton claims this conduct contradicts Netflix’s promise to protect children, putting them at risk as even kids’ profile data is collected and sold. The autoplay feature undermines a parent’s control over their children’s screen time and habits, he adds.

A spokesperson for Netflix told Courthouse News that the lawsuit is based on “inaccurate and distorted information.”

“Netflix takes our members’ privacy seriously and complies with privacy and data‑protection laws everywhere we operate,” Netflix spokesperson Adrian Zamora 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.”

Paxton wants to block Netflix from collecting and disclosing users’ data, disable the autoplay action on children’s profiles and secure additional injunctive relief and civil consequences.

“I will continue to work to protect Texas families from deceptive practices by Big Tech companies and ensure that corporations are held accountable under Texas law,” Paxton said.