Florida officials filed a lawsuit against Netflix, accusing the streaming giant of misleading parents about its collection of minors’ data and using features that encourage children to “binge watch” content.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday and led by James Uthmeier, the Republican Florida attorney general, marks the latest action by Florida against major technology companies. The red-leaning state has taken an increasingly aggressive approach toward big tech, particularly during the rise of artificial intelligence (AI).
“Netflix told Florida families they could pay a monthly fee to escape big tech surveillance. That was false,” Uthmeier said in a statement. “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.
“Parents, not corporate executives, direct the upbringing of their children. Netflix should expect to be held accountable,” he added.
In a statement shared with The Guardian, a spokesperson for Netflix said: “Netflix takes our members’ privacy seriously. 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.”
In the 66-page lawsuit, Florida accuses Netflix of carrying out a “years-long bait-and-switch” that has “led the company right to where it promised never to be: addicting children and families to its platform, mining those users for data, and then converting that data into lucrative intelligence for global advertising juggernauts”.
The lawsuit claims Netflix opened Floridians’ data to commercial data brokers and advertising platforms after it launched advertisements in November 2022, allegedly allowing advertisers to “target Floridians by life stage, income, and household composition”. The complaint says Netflix failed to obtain the consent required under Florida law.
It emphasizes that Netflix has in the past made a point to distinguish itself from tech companies that offer “free” services in exchange for data collection such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon, but claims that Netflix has failed to live up to its promises to not track and monetize data similar to other tech companies.
Netflix provides members with its updated privacy statement and terms of use annually, according to the streaming service. Those terms lay out the company’s advertising and privacy practices, along with users’ rights and available controls. It also offers parental controls that allow parents to filter or block content.
The Florida case follows a lawsuit filed earlier this year by Texas officials accusing Netflix of spying on children and designing its platform to be addictive.
Uthmeier has also filed lawsuits against OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, and TikTok this year. He recently kept Florida out of a multi-state settlement involving Meta, saying the $17bn agreement was “not enough to punish” the company over allegations that it failed to protect minor users.
“We’re going to send a message to big tech companies. If you hurt our kids, you are going to have to pay for it,” Uthmeier said while announcing the Netflix lawsuit on Wednesday. “And so, in this lawsuit, we will be seeking billions of damages.”
