Netflix has been sued by the attorney general of Texas, who alleges the streaming giant misled consumers for years about how it collects their data, tracks their viewing behavior and handles children’s accounts while building what the state describes as a “behavioral-surveillance program of staggering scale.”
Filed Wednesday by Attorney General Ken Paxton in Collin County District Court, the lawsuit alleges Netflix falsely portrayed itself as a privacy-focused alternative to advertising-driven tech companies while secretly harvesting detailed behavioral data. Texas is seeking unspecified civil penalties, consumer restitution and temporary and permanent injunctions against Netflix.
The state argues Netflix repeatedly assured consumers it would not operate like companies such as Google and Facebook, citing past statements from CEO Reed Hastings that Netflix had “no intention of monetizing with ads” and did not “sell any data.”
“Texans trusted that bargain,” the lawsuit states. “Netflix broke it — constructing the very data-collection system subscribers paid to escape.”
The petition claims Netflix built sophisticated pipelines capable of logging billions of user “events” daily, including what they watch, search for, pause, rewind and abandon, along with device and location information. The state alleges the company used that information to train algorithms and later support a rapidly expanding advertising business.
Texas also accuses Netflix of misleading parents about children’s profiles. The lawsuit says Netflix marketed kids profiles as safe, segregated spaces for children while still collecting detailed behavioral information from minors.
According to the petition, Netflix’s autoplay features and recommendation systems were intentionally designed to encourage binge-watching and maximize engagement, especially among children. The petition describes autoplay as a “dark pattern” engineered to keep users watching longer and generate more data.
The lawsuit further alleges that after years of publicly criticizing targeted advertising, Netflix eventually partnered with major advertising and data firms including Google Display & Video 360, The Trade Desk, Experian and Acxiom to support identity matching and targeted advertising capabilities.
Netflix did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
