AUSTIN, Tx., May 13, 2026: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Monday that the State of Texas is suing Netflix for alleging collecting viewer’s data without their consent.
According to the lawsuit documents, Netflix promised in 2020 that it was “not integrating everybody’s data.” Company officials said that Netflix was not Amazon, Facebook or Google, suggesting that their viewers’ privacy was safe.
In 2023, Amazon settled a lawsuit for over $30 million with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over allegations that it was misusing consumers’ privacy data through their devices like Alexa. Facebook has started making payments recently on a $725 million lawsuit to settle allegations that it allowed partners to harvest users’ personal data. Last year, Paxton secured a $1.375 billion settlement against Google for allegedly violating users’ privacy.
In addition to stating that the company doesn’t collect any user data, it has also promised that its platform is “kid friendly.”
According to Paxton’s lawsuit, rather than not collecting personal information like it promised, Netflix “quietly built a behavioral-surveillance program of staggering scale,” that “requires getting Texans and their children glued to the screen and then extracting every possible piece of data about them,” states the lawsuit.
Paxton’s lawsuit also accuses the video streaming company of collecting “the same behavioral signals on children” that it collects from the adult viewers. The Texas attorney general also accuses Netflix of selling Texan’s personal data to data brokers.
Netflix collects the personal data, according to the lawsuit to “monetize the data for a handsome profit.” Between 2018 and this year, Netflix’s profits have jumped from $15 billion to over $50 billion.
The lawsuit seeks to stop Netflix from collecting personal information from its Texas viewers and millions to settle the case.
Netflix has denied wrongdoing. In a statement shortly after the lawsuit was announced, Netflix said that the “lawsuit lacks merit and is based on inaccurate and distorted information.” The company added that it will address Paxton’s in court and explain its “industry-leading, kid friendly parental control and transparent privacy practices.”
Paxton is facing off against U.S. Senate incumbent John Cornyn in the May 26 runoff election. A University of Houston poll that polled voters between April 28th and May 1st shows that Paxton leads Cornyn by three points going into the runoff election. Paxton has recently filed several lawsuits that some critics have said are being used to bolster his candidacy. Recently Paxton launched an investigation into school districts for not displaying the Ten Commandments.
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Cover photograph: Photographic illustration of Ken Paxton in front of a television set with a viewer manipulating a television controller. El Paso Herald Post.
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