Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier sued Netflix this week, accusing the streaming giant of tracking children’s viewing habits and disclosing that data to advertisers after years of promising subscribers an ad-free service that wouldn’t collect or share their information.
The 66-page complaint, filed Wednesday in the Seventh Judicial Circuit, alleges Netflix built a behavioral-surveillance operation years before it launched its ad-supported tier in November 2022.
“Parents, not corporate executives, direct the upbringing of their children,” Mr. Uthmeier said in a statement announcing the suit.
According to the complaint, Netflix’s chief executive at the time, Reed Hastings, told investors during a Jan. 22, 2020, earnings call, “We don’t collect anything,” and described Netflix as offering an escape from the data-driven advertising models used by companies like Google and Facebook.
The suit separately alleges that Netflix collected and analyzed children’s viewing behavior on its Kids Profiles — which the company markets as a child’s “own space” for viewers 12 and under — through the same systems used on adult accounts, even though Netflix tells parents it doesn’t serve behavioral ads on those profiles. In a related but distinct claim, the complaint alleges that after Netflix’s ad-supported tier launched, the company made subscriber data available to commercial data brokers and advertising platforms, allowing advertisers to target Floridians by life stage, income and household composition — without the consent Florida law requires.
The suit charges Netflix with violating the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and the Florida Digital Bill of Rights, and seeks a permanent injunction, deletion of the data in question, civil penalties and an end to what the state calls “dark-pattern” design features meant to keep children watching.
Netflix rejected the allegations. “This lawsuit lacks merit and we intend to vigorously defend the matter in court,” the company told TheWrap in a statement.
Mr. Uthmeier’s action follows a similar suit Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed against Netflix in May, and adds to a broader wave of litigation targeting platforms that reach children. In February, Los Angeles County Counsel Dawyn R. Harrison filed suit against Roblox on behalf of the people of California, alleging the gaming platform’s design “makes children easy prey for pedophiles.” Roblox has disputed those claims.
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