{"id":288400,"date":"2026-05-11T20:00:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T20:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/288400\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T20:00:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T20:00:12","slug":"texas-alleges-hidden-danger-from-netflix-data-collection-for-kids-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/288400\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas alleges hidden danger from Netflix data collection for kids, families"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Evercore ISI senior managing director Mark Mahaney joins Varney &amp; Co. to discuss the departure of Netflix Chairman Reed Hastings and to address questions about the company\u2019s future leadership and strategy.<\/p>\n<p>The state of Texas announced a lawsuit against streaming giant\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/category\/netflix\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Netflix<\/a> on Monday, accusing the company of spying on children and other consumers by collecting their data without consent and designing the platform to be addictive.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/category\/fox-news-texas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Texas<\/a> claims that Netflix has falsely represented to consumers that it didn&#8217;t collect or share user data while it actually tracked and sold viewers&#8217; habits and preferences to commercial data brokers and advertising technology companies.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit, filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, claims that &#8220;Netflix&#8217;s endgame is simple and lucrative: get children and families glued to the screen, harvest their data while they are stuck there, and then monetize the data for a handsome profit.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>     <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/netflix-tv-remote.jpg\" alt=\"Netflix on a TV\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>The state of Texas announced a lawsuit against streaming giant\u00a0Netflix on Monday. (Nikos Pekiaridis\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When you watch Netflix, Netflix watched you,&#8221; Texas added in the lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/business-leaders\/netflix-co-founder-reed-hastings-step-down-departure-spooking-investors\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">NETFLIX CO-FOUNDER REED HASTINGS TO STEP DOWN, DEPARTURE IS \u2018SPOOKING INVESTORS\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ticker Security Last Change Change % <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/quote?stockTicker=NFLX\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NFLX<\/a> NETFLIX INC. 85.39 -2.10<br \/>\n        -2.40%<\/p>\n<p>The complaint quotes comments made by former CEO Reed Hastings who said in 2020, while he was still leading the streaming company, that &#8220;we don&#8217;t collect anything,&#8221; amid questions over Big Tech companies&#8217; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/category\/tech\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">data collection<\/a> practices.<\/p>\n<p>Netflix was also accused of quietly using &#8220;dark patterns&#8221; to keep users watching on its platform, such as an autoplay feature that starts a new show after a different show ends.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/lifestyle\/netflix-raises-subscription-prices-across-all-plans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">NETFLIX RAISES SUBSCRIPTION PRICES ACROSS ALL PLANS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ken-paxton-texas-attorney-general-reuters.jpg\" alt=\"Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaking.\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed the lawsuit. (Cheney Orr\/Reuters)<\/p>\n<p>Paxton said in a press release that Netflix &#8220;has built a surveillance program designed to illegally collect and profit from Texans&#8217; personal data without their consent, and my office will do everything in our power to stop it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The attorney general said he&#8217;s charging Netflix under the state&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/category\/legal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Deceptive Trade Practices Act<\/a> and seeks to require Netflix to stop the unlawful collection and disclosure of user data, require Netflix to disable autoplay by default on kid&#8217;s profiles, and to secure injunctive relief and civil penalties.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/apps-products\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>FOX Business reached out to Netflix for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Reuters contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Evercore ISI senior managing director Mark Mahaney joins Varney &amp; Co. to discuss the departure of Netflix Chairman&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288401,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-288400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}