Florida sues Netflix over AI-driven tracking and profiling of children
Florida's Attorney General filed a lawsuit against Netflix alleging the company tracked children's behavior on dedicated kids' profiles and used that data for advertising, despite promising families they could escape surveillance by paying for a subscription. The complaint claims Netflix collected billions of behavioral data points while misrepresenting that kids' profiles would not be subject to behavior-based advertising.
What happened
Florida's Attorney General James Uthmeier sued Netflix in St. Johns County court, alleging that Netflix tracked the activity of children on kids' profiles and collected billions of data points about their behavior, including devices used, access locations, and what content they viewed, paused, rewound, searched, or abandoned.
The complaint states that Netflix represented to families in Florida that they could pay a monthly fee to escape surveillance by large technology companies, but this was false. The state alleges that Netflix analyzed children's viewing through the same systems used for adult users, contrary to representations that kids' profiles would not have behavior-based advertising.
Reported impact
The lawsuit claims Netflix engaged in deceptive and unfair commercial practices by using collected behavioral data from children's profiles to train algorithms and support an advertising business that the company had previously stated it would not develop.
Index analysis
The complaint focuses on Netflix's kids' profiles, which the company presents as a dedicated space for children under 12. The state alleges Netflix assured parents that behavior-based advertising would not apply to these profiles while analyzing children's viewing using the same tracking systems deployed for adult subscribers.
The lawsuit also questions design features intended to keep minors engaged with the platform, including autoplay functionality that is enabled by default even on kids' profiles.
Governance controls
The case was filed under Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and the state's Digital Bill of Rights.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.