The Florida Attorney General’s Lawsuit Against Netflix

The Attorney General of Florida has accused Netflix of tracking children’s data and selling it to advertisers.

This week, Attorney General James Uthmeier filed a lawsuit claiming that Netflix misled users about its ad-free status and its commitment to not collecting user data.

According to the lawsuit, “Netflix’s claims about being ad-free, avoiding data collection, and creating kid-friendly profiles were assured by the company’s upper management.” However, Uthmeier asserts that, secretly, Netflix was gathering extensive consumer data and establishing a surveillance infrastructure, which it started using for advertising purposes in November 2022.

Uthmeier emphasized the need for parents to safeguard their children’s privacy.

“This lawsuit focuses on parents, as they are the ones who should oversee their kids’ privacy—not a large tech company that profits at the expense of public safety. It’s the parents—not streaming services—who should guide their children’s upbringing,” he stated.

Netflix has denied all the allegations.

“We take our members’ privacy very seriously,” the company commented. “We follow privacy and data protection laws in all locations and have specific safeguards for kids who use Netflix. This lawsuit does not have a strong basis, and we plan to defend ourselves vigorously in court,” they added.

As mentioned by a news outlet, Uthmeier’s lawsuit comes on the heels of another against the game Roblox, initiated in California earlier in the year. That lawsuit accused Roblox of creating an unsafe online environment for children and allowing predators to exploit minors.

The lawsuit against Roblox stated, “Roblox markets its platform as a safe and suitable environment for children. However, the design, as Roblox knows well, makes children vulnerable to sexual predators.”

According to reports, Roblox had 151 million daily active users in the third quarter, with nearly 400 million monthly active users, around 40% of whom are under 13. The lawsuit alleged that while Roblox claims to prioritize the safety of young players, these assurances clash with the design choices and monetization strategies of the app.