Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) has filed a lawsuit against Netflix, accusing the streaming giant of illegally collecting and monetizing Texans' personal data, including data from children, without users' knowledge or consent.
According to Paxton's office, Netflix allegedly misled consumers for years by portraying itself as a privacy-conscious and family-friendly platform while secretly operating what the lawsuit describes as an extensive behavioral tracking system. The state claims Netflix collected detailed user information, including viewing habits, device information, household network activity, app usage, and personal preferences.
The lawsuit alleges that every interaction on the platform became a monetized data point. Texas officials further claim the company shared that information with advertising technology firms and commercial data brokers, allowing third parties to build detailed consumer profiles based on user behavior.
"Netflix has built a surveillance program designed to illegally collect and profit from Texans' personal data without their consent," said Paxton.
He added that the company "misled consumers while exploiting their private data to make billions."
Paxton's office also alleges the platform's data collection practices extended to children's profiles, raising additional concerns about privacy protections for minors online.
In addition to privacy allegations, the lawsuit targets Netflix's platform design, arguing that features such as autoplay were intentionally engineered to increase screen time and encourage addictive viewing behavior, particularly among children. Texas is seeking to require Netflix to disable autoplay by default on children's accounts if the state prevails in court.
The lawsuit seeks civil penalties, injunctive relief, and restrictions on Netflix's future data collection and disclosure practices. The legal action highlights Paxton's continued interest in protecting Texas consumers from illegal data collection and privacy violations committed by companies.
