Florida Sues Netflix for Billions Over Tracking Children's Viewing Data

2026-09-12 companies

Tallahassee, Saturday, 12 September 2026.
Florida filed a multi-billion dollar lawsuit against Netflix, alleging the streaming service secretly harvested data from children’s profiles—collecting up to 550 billion daily events—to power its targeted advertising model.

Introduction

Florida filed a multi-billion dollar lawsuit against Netflix, alleging the streaming service secretly harvested data from children’s profiles—collecting up to 550 billion daily events—to power its targeted advertising model [1][3]. The legal action poses significant regulatory risks for media companies relying on subscriber data, signaling heightened state-level enforcement targeting major tech platforms [1][5].

Legal Action Filed

Attorney General James Uthmeier filed the 66-page lawsuit on Wednesday, September 9, 2026, in the Circuit Court of the Seventh Judicial Circuit in St. Johns County [1][2]. The complaint seeks billions of dollars in damages for alleged deceptive trade practices and violations of the Florida Digital Bill of Rights [1][5]. State officials intend to pursue penalties of up to $50,000 per violation, a figure subject to tripling for violations involving children 150000 [1].

Allegations of Data Harvesting

The lawsuit alleges Netflix secretly tracked user interactions, including viewing history, search queries, playback behavior, device info, and location, to build an advertising business after previously claiming it would avoid such surveillance [1][2]. Florida claims Netflix violated the Florida Digital Bill of Rights by selling sensitive personal information, specifically data from Kids Profiles designed for children 12 and younger, without required consent [1][5]. According to the complaint, Netflix records billions of behavioral events to train algorithms and power advertising, contradicting prior representations that behavioral advertising was not used on these profiles [2][4].

Deceptive Design Practices

Florida claims Netflix uses deceptive interface designs, such as autoplay, to maximize continuous viewing and obstruct cancellations, specifically targeting children and families [3][4]. Attorney General Uthmeier stated that autoplay undermines parental control of screen time and content consumption, acting as a vise grip to keep children fixed under Netflix’s microscope [4][5]. The state seeks court orders to force Netflix to delete behavioral data collected from Kids Profiles and restrict the use of historical subscriber information for advertising [1][5].

Financial and Legal Implications

Netflix introduced its ad-supported plan in November 2022, which Florida alleges utilized years of accumulated subscriber data to categorize audiences by household composition, income, and life stage [1][5]. The company officially denies the allegations, stating the lawsuit is meritless and that the company complies with all privacy and data protection laws while maintaining safeguards for children [1][3]. Despite these assurances, the complaint asserts Netflix collects demographic and lifestyle data to allow advertisers to connect external data with Netflix profiles for behavioral targeting [3][4].

Broader Regulatory Landscape

In May 2026, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton initiated a separate lawsuit against Netflix making similar allegations regarding the monetization of consumer and children’s profile data without proper consent [1][5]. This action is part of Florida’s ongoing effort to protect children, empower parents, and hold Big Tech accountable, following suits against TikTok and OpenAI earlier in 2026 [3][4]. The outcome of this litigation may prompt other states to take similar legal actions against Netflix and other Big Tech companies regarding children’s data privacy [5].

Sources

Netflix Data Privacy