Netflix is spying on children and selling user – Business News
The state of Texas introduced a lawsuit towards streaming giant Netflix on Monday, accusing the company of spying on children and different shoppers by gathering their information with out consent and designing the platform to be addictive.
Texas claims that Netflix has falsely represented to shoppers that it didn’t accumulate or share user information whereas it truly tracked and bought viewers’ habits and preferences to industrial information brokers and promoting technology firms.
The lawsuit, filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, claims that “Netflix’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.”
“When you watch Netflix, Netflix watched you,” Texas added within the lawsuit.
The criticism quotes feedback made by former CEO Reed Hastings who stated in 2020, whereas he was nonetheless main the streaming company, that “we don’t collect anything,” amid questions over Big Tech firms’ information assortment practices.
Netflix was additionally accused of quietly utilizing “dark patterns” to keep customers watching on its platform, comparable to an autoplay characteristic that begins a new show after a totally different show ends.
The state of Texas has filed a lawsuit towards Netflix for allegedly spying on children and different shoppers by gathering information with out consent. Daniel KrasoÃâ – stock.adobe.com
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton claimed that Netflix goals to monetize user information after getting them hooked on the platform. REUTERS
Paxton stated in a press release that Netflix “has built a surveillance program designed to illegally collect and profit from Texans’ personal data without their consent, and my office will do everything in our power to stop it.”
The legal professional basic stated he’s charging Netflix underneath the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act and seeks to require Netflix to stop the illegal assortment and disclosure of user information, require Netflix to disable autoplay by default on child’s profiles, and to secure injunctive aid and civil penalties.
FOX Business reached out to Netflix for remark.
Reuters contributed to this report.
