Florida sues Netflix, alleging it tracked children to build advertising business
Florida has sued Netflix, accusing the streaming company of tracking children and families while falsely portraying itself as an ad-free alternative to “data-hungry tech platforms,” then using the information to build its advertising business.
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday by Attorney General James Uthmeier. It accuses Netflix of violating the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and the Florida Digital Bill of Rights.
“Netflix told Florida families they could pay a monthly fee to escape Big Tech surveillance. That was false,” Uthmeier said. “Netflix collected detailed data on children and families, designed its product to keep kids watching, and then commercialized that information to launch the advertising business it promised never to build.”
The state alleges that Netflix records billions of user actions, including what customers and their children watch, pause, rewind, search for, skip or abandon, as well as the devices and locations associated with their viewing. It says Netflix collected and analyzed that information through Kids profiles, which it markets as a child’s own space for users 12 and under.
Netflix tells parents that it does not engage in behavioral advertising on Kids profiles. Florida alleges the company’s statement omits that it still collects children’s viewing behavior through the same systems used for adult accounts.
The lawsuit also alleges Netflix began opening Floridians’ information to data brokers and advertising platforms after launching its advertising business in November 2022. It says the company allowed advertisers to target users based on life stage, income and household composition without obtaining the consent required by state law.
“Netflix takes our members’ privacy seriously,” a company spokesperson said in a statement. “We comply with privacy and data-protection laws everywhere we operate and have dedicated safeguards in place for kids who watch content on Netflix. This lawsuit lacks merit and we intend to vigorously defend the matter in court.”
Florida is seeking to force Netflix to delete data it allegedly collected deceptively, stop using children’s behavioral data and dark-pattern designs such as autoplay, and pay civil penalties of up to $50,000 per violation, which could be tripled in cases involving known children.
Uthmeier has previously sued OpenAI, TikTok and Roblox over child safety and data protection, while also opening an investigation into Discord.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
