Texas sues Netflix for advertising ‘bait and switch’ and spying

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against Netflix, accusing the company of “spying on Texans, including children, and collecting users’ data without their knowledge or consent. ” The lawsuit, filed on Monday, also claims Netflix designed its platform to be addictive, and with features to “manipulate” users.

“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,” Paxton says in the press release. “Netflix is not the ad-free and kid-friendly platform it claims to be. Instead, it has misled consumers while exploiting their private data to make billions.”

Paxton accuses Netflix of violating the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and asks the court to block the streamer’s “unlawful collection and disclosure” of user data, as well as to disable autoplay by default on kids’ profiles.