Netflix built its subscriber base on a simple promise: pay a monthly fee, watch what you want, skip the ads and the tracking that comes with them. The Texas lawsuit filed Monday says that promise was a lie.
The suit, filed in Collin County state court, alleges Netflix tracked every click, pause, and viewing session on your account, including your kids' profiles, and sold that behavioral data to commercial data brokers like Experian and Acxiom and to ad-tech platforms including Google Display & Video 360 and The Trade Desk. According to the complaint, this was happening even for subscribers on ad-free plans.
Netflix calls the lawsuit "inaccurate and distorted" and says it complies with privacy laws everywhere it operates. The case is in early stages and could take years to resolve.
This isn't the first time Netflix's data practices have drawn scrutiny from regulators. In December 2024, the Dutch Data Protection Authority fined Netflix €4.75 million after a five-year investigation found the company failed to clearly disclose what data it collects, who receives it, and why. Netflix updated its privacy policy after that investigation and appealed the fine. The Texas lawsuit argues those updates still fall short, noting that Netflix didn't add specific disclosures about behavioral logging, including play, pause, and app click data, until 2024, years after the practice began.
Some data collection is built into the product. Netflix has to know what you're watching to suggest what to watch next and to pick up where you left off. That's table stakes for any streaming service. The lawsuit isn't about that. It's about whether subscribers knew their viewing behavior was being packaged and sold to third-party advertisers and data brokers, and whether Netflix was transparent about it.
Your practical options here are limited. Netflix's settings let you clear your watch history and turn off autoplay, but neither affects the underlying data collection. The only meaningful lever is whether you're on the ad-supported tier ($8.99/month), which involves the most direct data sharing with advertisers. Upgrading to Standard ($19.99/month) or Premium ($26.99/month) removes the ads, though the lawsuit alleges behavioral data collection continues across all tiers. Whether an $11 monthly increase is worth it is a decision only you can make, with the understanding that it may not fully solve the problem the lawsuit describes.
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[Image credit: Netflix]
