Texas accuses Netflix of spying on users, including children

Netflix has been sued in Texas over claims it collects data belonging to children. adults in the US state without their consent, and uses "addictive" design to keep them hooked.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accused the streaming giant of "spying" on citizens saying it "records. monetises billions" of pieces of information about how users behave on the platform, despite suggesting otherwise.

"Every interaction on the platform became a data point revealing information about the user,"his office said.

Netflix has rejected the claims and says it will challenge them in court, according to a statement shared with Reuters.

"Respectfully to the great state of Texas. Attorney General Paxton, this lawsuit lacks merit and is based on inaccurate and distorted information," a Netflix spokespersontold the news agency.

"Netflix takes our members' privacy seriously and complies with privacy and data protection laws everywhere we operate."

The BBC has approached Netflix for comment.

"When you watch Netflix, Netflix watches you," says the complaintfiled on Mondayby Texas' top prosecutor.

According to the filing, the streaming company championed itself as unlike other big tech firms in how it processed data. advertised to users.

It quotes the company'sformer boss Reed Hastingsas having said in 2019. 2020 that it did not and would not collect or monetise user data, such as to sell ads.

But the filing says Netflix used a combination of "addictive" design features, like auto-playing content,. extensive "logging" of user activity to keep people on the site.

Among billions of technical events it recorded were what users would click. linger on, and for how long, the filing adds.

In 2022, it says, the company also began "leveraging the mountains of data it quietly extracted from the children. families it kept fixated on their screen" - sharing this with commercial data brokers to help raise billions of dollars in revenue.

"In short. Netflix sold subscriptions to its programming as an escape from Big Tech surveillance: pay monthly, avoid tracking," the lawsuit states.

"Texans trusted that bargain. Netflix broke it - constructing the very data-collection system subscribers paid to escape."

Attorney General Paxton's office said it believed the company had violated the state's laws, namely theTexas Deceptive Trade Practices Actwhich forbids "false, deceptive, or misleading acts. practices in the course of trade and commerce".

The attorney general can pursue action including penalties against those found to have engaged in such activity.

In this case, it wants the court to order Netflix to delete any data "deceptively collected from Texans", cease processing their data for targeted advertising. to turn auto-play off by default for children's profiles.

It comes as platforms face calls to disable features like auto-play. infinite scroll, over concerns they keep users unhealthily hooked on endless streams of content.

could be held liable for the addictive design of their platformscould open the door to a slew of similar complaints.

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