Overview
- Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed a 66-page lawsuit Wednesday in the 7th Judicial Circuit accusing Netflix of misleading families by promising a privacy-protective, ad-free service while secretly collecting behavioral data from children’s profiles.
- The complaint says Netflix recorded billions of interactions—play, pause, skip, searches, device identifiers and location signals—and used that telemetry to train algorithms and support advertiser targeting after launching an ad tier in November 2022.
- Florida alleges the company opened user data to commercial data brokers and ad platforms, enabling advertisers to target viewers by life stage, income and household composition without the consent state law requires.
- The suit argues Netflix used design features on kids profiles, including autoplay enabled by default, to extend viewing and gather more data from children and asks the court to force data purges, bar those design practices and impose civil penalties.
- Netflix says the case "lacks merit" and will be vigorously defended; the filing is part of Uthmeier’s wider legal campaign on consumer privacy and child safety that could prompt similar actions or legislation elsewhere.