Netflix Sued by Florida Over “Bait-and-Switch” on Privacy and Advertising

Florida has sued Netflix over its data-collection infrastructure, accusing the streaming giant of illegally accumulating massive troves of information on users to fuel its advertising business.

The lawsuit, filed in Florida state court on Wednesday, alleges Netflix deploys deceptive designs to keep subscribers engaged on the platform by maximizing continuous viewing, obstructing cancellations and deterring the use of privacy-protective settings, among other things.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier brings claims alleging violations of state laws regarding unfair and deceptive practices. He seeks unspecified damages and a court order that would force Netflix to cease collecting and monetizing user data, plus changes to its interface, among other things.

“Netflix’s years-long bait-and-switch has led the company right to where it promised never to be: addicting children and families to its platform, mining those users for data, and then converting that data into lucrative intelligence for global advertising juggernauts,” states the complaint.

The lawsuit marks another escalation by Florida officials against Big Tech, whose data collection and engagement practices have drawn intense scrutiny from the state. Earlier this year, Uthmeier also sued TikTok and OpenAI over safety features on the platforms while opting out of a $17 billion multi-state settlement with Meta, which allegedly failed to protect minors.

Wednesday’s complaint details a bait-and-switch. For years, Netflix marketed itself as a kid-friendly, ad-free destination, according to the complaint. The lawsuit points to statements about avoiding the integration of user data unlike tech giants like Google, Amazon and Meta, citing a 2019 shareholder letter that described the absence of ads as a “deep part of our brand proposition.”

Still, Netflix collected granular information about subscriber activity on its platform, the lawsuit says, including searches, pauses, rewatches, browsing and scrolling behavior and device information.

“We’re really a [data] logging company … a logging company that occasionally streams movies,” said a Netflix engineer in 2016, according to the complaint.

Florida says the scale of the operation and information harvested was enormous, with Netflix collecting roughly 550 billion events per day as early as 2016. The streaming giant, the lawsuit alleges, later monetized that infrastructure when it launched its ad business in 2022, betraying earlier representations about the nature of its business model.

Advertisers can connect their own data with Netflix’s profiles to improve audience targeting and behavioral insights, according to the complaint. The advertising operation includes demographic and lifestyle information, such as education, martial status, and household income and makeup, Florida claims.

The lawsuit stresses an allegedly addictive design interface meant to addict users, particularly children. It targets autoplay, alleging the feature was deliberately designed to keep users watching longer with the goal of collecting more data. Florida says Netflix falsely represented that it didn’t engage in behavioral advertising within kids profiles but failed to disclose the extent to which it collected and analyzed viewing behavior. Netflix, which didn’t respond to a request for comment, effectively knows a child’s interests, anxieties, routines and attention patterns, the lawsuit says.

“Netflix told Florida families they could pay a monthly fee to escape Big Tech surveillance. That was false,” Uthmeier said in a statement. “Netflix collected detailed data on children and families, designed its product to keep kids watching, and then commercialized that information to launch the advertising business it promised never to build.”