Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued Netflix, accusing the company of violating its promise to remain ad-free and safe for children, as well as engaging in data exploitation 1.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday, claims Netflix has opened Texans' data to the "Big Ad Tech community" after previously criticizing it 1.
Paxton alleges Netflix attracted subscribers by promoting itself as an escape from Big Tech surveillance, a stance that shifted with the introduction of an ad-supported streaming plan in 2022 1.
The lawsuit points out that Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings had previously stated the company would not sell ads 1.
The suit claims Netflix's move into digital advertising allowed it to collect and utilize vast amounts of user data, including data from children and families 1.
Paxton accuses Netflix of creating a "behavior-surveillance program" that gathers information on user events, such as location, device used, search terms, and content ratings 1.
The streaming service is accused of sharing this data with data brokers like Experian and Acxiom 1.
The lawsuit states that Netflix's actions have led the company to "addicting children and families to its platform, mining those users for data, and then converting that data into lucrative intelligence for global advertising juggernauts" 1.
Netflix's ad-supported tier has seen significant growth since its launch, with subscribers to the Basic tier more than doubling from 2024 to 2025 1.
In January, Netflix reported earning $1.5 billion from ads in 2025 1.
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