Report from NBC News
In Brief – Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (R) has filed a 66-page lawsuit against Netflix, accusing the streaming giant of misleading Florida consumers about its data-collection practices and exposing children and families to so-called “addictive” design features. The suit alleges that the company engaged in a “years-long bait-and-switch”, marketing its subscription service as an ad-free alternative to data-driven technology companies and assuring parents that children’s profiles were safe, while deceptively collecting detailed information about how users interacted with the platform and using that data to eventually power it ads. The state alleges the company also used autoplay and other features to keep adults and children watching while accumulating billions of behavioral data points. Netflix, which called the lawsuit meritless and said it will defend its practices in court, said it takes members’ privacy seriously, complies with privacy laws, gives users tools to manage advertising preferences, disable autoplay, and use parental controls to safeguard children.
Context – Meta’s decision to settle a collection of 48 State AG lawsuits that accused the company of privacy law violations and designing their services with so-called addictive features, including the devious “autoplay” feature, pay several billion dollars to the states, and incent Meta and the AGs to press the other social media giants to adopt the same set of operational changes, created a template for the states to go after all manner of digital platforms with fewer First Amendment headaches. Online gaming platforms and AI chatbots, especially AI “companion” services, were seen as likely next targets. But Texas AG Ken Paxton had already filed a similar lawsuit against Netflix in May, which Florida’s complaint largely parallels. Unlike with the social media lawsuits, no Democratic AGs have yet followed suit. When Netflix’s CEO was called to Capitol Hill for a Senate hearing to discuss the then-proposed acquisition of Warner Brothers by the streaming company, several Republican Senators accused Netflix of serious wokeness, so there is that explanation.