Texas Attorney General Sues Netflix Over Alleged Surveillance Practices

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has initiated a lawsuit against Netflix, asserting that the streaming service has implemented a vast, unauthorized behavioral-surveillance system aimed at its subscribers. This action was taken on Monday.

The lawsuit contends that Netflix, which once promoted itself as a “privacy-conscious” alternative to ad-centric tech firms, has developed an elaborate surveillance setup capable of processing more than 10 million events every second. It allegedly generates a staggering 5 petabytes of daily user-behavior data, which fuels around 40,000 internal microservices.

A key aspect of the state’s case is the allegation that Netflix employs “dark patterns” and “autoplay” features designed to maximize engagement among children. This, they claim, allows the company to gather extensive data from young viewers and their families without obtaining proper consent or offering clarity.

The lawsuit further claims this secretly obtained information is then sold to commercial data brokers, contradicting Netflix’s image as a secure platform for data privacy.

“In short, Netflix sold subscriptions to its programming as an escape from Big Tech surveillance: pay monthly, avoid tracking. Texans trusted that bargain. Netflix broke it — constructing the very data-collection system subscribers paid to escape,” the legal document states.

The lawsuit also references previous assurances from Netflix’s management to substantiate its argument. It highlights a 2019 message to shareholders where co-founder Reed Hastings denied any intention to shift towards an advertising model.

This was further reinforced during a January 2020 earnings call when Hastings insisted that the service did not gather user data and emphasized a focus on member satisfaction rather than controversies related to targeted advertising.

According to the lawsuit, these public statements misled consumers, hiding a sophisticated data-harvesting process that was already being monetized through external brokers.

“Netflix is not the ad-free and kid-friendly platform it claims to be. Instead, it has misled consumers while exploiting their private data to make billions. 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 commented in a statement.

This lawsuit, presented in Collin County district court, includes a request for a jury trial to address the state’s claims against Netflix.

Aside from seeking civil penalties, the lawsuit aims for the court to impose a permanent injunction that would require Netflix to gain informed consent from its subscribers before using their personal data for targeted advertising in Texas. Through these measures, Paxton hopes to instigate changes in Netflix’s protocols regarding data transparency and privacy for all users in the state.