Texas vs. Netflix: the streaming giant could pose a danger to users, especially minors

The Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton, has initiated a heavy legal action against Netflix. The legal dispute revolves around privacy, data collection, and the very design of the platform. The complaint, consisting of 59 pages and filed in a state court in the Dallas area, claims that the company has started, since 2022, with the introduction of cheaper ad-supported subscriptions in the United States, an advanced user tracking system.

According to the allegations, Netflix would have collected and recorded sensitive information such as geographic location, devices used, home networks, activity on applications, internal search history, viewing preferences, and other behavioral data, including profiles of minors. These data, according to Paxton, would have subsequently been shared or sold to specialized companies for collecting and aggregating information to enable more targeted advertising campaigns, all without truly informed consent from users.

The proceedings also contest Netflix's alleged historical narrative as an ad-free and family-friendly platform, arguing instead that behind this image has developed a large-scale behavioral surveillance program aimed at advertising monetization. The lawsuit cites the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, a state law for consumer protection, and seeks to obtain a jury trial, a permanent injunction against the disputed practices, and civil penalties of up to $10,000 for each individual violation.

Among the most discussed elements is the autoplay feature, which is enabled by default, even for minors' accounts. According to Texas, this feature would represent a tool designed to prolong user stay on the platform, incentivizing dependency mechanisms especially among children and adolescents through the automatic playback of subsequent episodes or content.

The complaint summarizes its accusations with a direct phrase: "When you watch Netflix, Netflix watches you," highlighting the belief that the service has built an infrastructure oriented not only toward entertainment but also toward the systematic extraction of value from personal data.

Netflix has firmly rejected all allegations, labeling the case as "baseless," based on "inaccurate, misleading, and distorted" information. The company claims to comply with data protection regulations in all markets where it operates and has defended its parental control tools, presented as advanced and designed to protect the youngest.

This is not the first case involving tech giants by Texas, which has introduced significantly more restrictive regulations compared to the past. In recent years, Google and Meta have already faced similar proceedings in the state, leading to payouts of approximately $1.4 billion each to settle the disputes between 2024 and 2025. More recently, TP-Link has also found itself in the spotlight, accused of promoting misleading security systems and exposing American citizens to Chinese espionage.