Texas sues Netflix over secret data collection, autoplay practices

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Netflix in Texas state court on Monday, accusing the streaming giant of collecting data on children and other users without consent, then turning those viewing habits into a business model built on surveillance, personalization, and retention. The complaint says Netflix misled consumers for years by claiming it did not collect or share user data, while in practice it tracked what viewers watched and used that information to feed advertising and data markets.

The lawsuit goes beyond privacy promises. Texas says Netflix sold habits and preferences to commercial data brokers and advertising technology firms, then used the resulting insights to help drive billions of dollars in annual revenue. The state also says the service was designed with dark patterns and product choices that make it harder to leave, pointing to autoplay as a central feature that automatically launches the next show and keeps users watching longer.

Paxton’s office is pursuing claims under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and seeking injunctive relief and civil penalties. Some reporting says Texas is also asking the court to require Netflix to disable autoplay by default on children’s profiles and to stop what the state describes as unlawful data collection and disclosure. The filing makes the case as much about consumer control as it is about one company: Texas is alleging that Netflix built a misleading privacy picture for the public while monetizing data behind the scenes.

The timing places the case inside a wider national confrontation over how platforms handle personal information, especially when minors are involved. The Federal Trade Commission finalized amendments to the COPPA Rule in 2025 to strengthen protections for children’s personal information and expand parental control, and state attorneys general have been pressing online companies to spell out exactly what they collect, how they use it, and who gets access to it. Netflix is now being pulled into that fight not over ads alone, but over whether a subscription streaming service can operate like a data-driven engagement platform without facing the same scrutiny as the rest of the tech sector.

Netflix’s help center says users can request a copy of the personal information the company holds about them and can choose to stop certain uses of that information, language that may shape its defense. The company did not immediately respond to the lawsuit. For Texas, the case is a test of whether a streaming platform can be forced to explain, in court, how much of its growth depends on collecting user behavior, especially children’s behavior, and using it to keep people on screen.