Florida Sues Netflix Over 66-Page Privacy Case, Alleging Children's Data Fueled 2022 Ad Business
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Sep 9
Florida Sues Netflix Over 66-Page Privacy Case, Alleging Children's Data Fueled 2022 Ad Business
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Sep 9
Summary
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sued Netflix on Wednesday, alleging the company misled subscribers by selling itself as an ad-free, privacy-safe alternative while secretly collecting years of behavioral data, including from children.
The 66-page complaint says Netflix tracked billions of interactions—what users watch, search, pause, rewind, skip and abandon—before using that data to support the ad-supported tier it launched in November 2022.
Kids Profiles are central to the case: Florida says Netflix marketed them as a child’s “own space” but still collected and analyzed children’s viewing behavior, with autoplay enabled by default to prolong watching and generate more data.
The lawsuit alleges violations of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and the Florida Digital Bill of Rights, including unlawful sharing of sensitive children’s data without required consent.
Florida is seeking a court order to halt the alleged practices, delete deceptively collected Floridian data, purge Kids Profile behavioral data, bar use of historical subscriber data for ads and impose civil penalties; Netflix did not immediately comment.