Texas accuses Netflix of ‘spying’ on children and designing ‘addictive’ features in new suit

MediaTexas accuses Netflix of ‘spying’ on children and designing ‘addictive’ features in new suit The streaming giant said the lawsuit “lacks merit and is based on inaccurate and distorted information.”The Netflix corporate offices in 2024 in Los Angeles.Mario Tama / Getty Images fileShareAdd NBC News to GoogleMay 11, 2026, 5:18 PM EDTBy Daniel ArkinTexas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a sweeping lawsuit Monday against Netflix, accusing the Hollywood streaming giant of “spying on” people in his state, including children, and collecting user data without consent.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.“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 said in a statement accompanying the suit, which was filed in state court in Collin County.In a statement, a Netflix spokesperson said the lawsuit “lacks merit and is based on inaccurate and distorted information.”“Netflix takes our members’ privacy seriously and complies with privacy and data‑protection laws everywhere we operate,” the spokesperson said. “We look forward to addressing the Texas Attorney General’s allegations in court and further explaining our industry-leading, kid‑friendly parental controls and transparent privacy practices.”Paxton’s lawsuit alleged that Netflix built “surveillance machinery” that tracks and logs users’ viewing habits, preferences, devices, household networks, application usage and “other sensitive behavioral data” via adult and kid profiles alike.Netflix may have once portrayed itself as a “kid-friendly and ad-free Big Tech alternative,” the suit said. “But behind the scenes,” the filing goes on to say, “Netflix quietly built a behavioral-surveillance program of staggering scale.”The streaming service, which says it has more than 325 million subscribers worldwide, offers both ad-supported and ad-free subscrip...