Palantir · The Verge
Texas sues Netflix for advertising ‘bait and switch’ and spying
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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton claims Netflix’s advertising push turned it into a platform ‘it promised never to be.’.
Key facts
- In January, the streaming giant reported earning $1.5 billion from ads in 2025
- Netflix’s ad-supported tier has seen a surge in growth since its launch, with subscribers to the Basic tier more than doubling to 70 million from 2024 to 2025
- In the lawsuit, Paxton claims Netflix drove up subscriptions by promoting its platform as an “escape from Big Tech surveillance
- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton claims Netflix’s advertising push turned it into a platform ‘it promised never
Summary
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against Netflix, accusing the company of turning its back on its promise to remain ad-free and safe for kids. In the lawsuit, Paxton claims Netflix drove up subscriptions by promoting its platform as an “escape from Big Tech surveillance.” But that changed when Netflix introduced an ad-supported streaming plan in 2022, something co-founder Reed Hastings promised not to do. Paxton accuses Netflix of building a “behavior-surveillance program” that involves collecting information about “user events,” like their location, the device they’re using, search terms, how they rate content, and more. Netflix’s years-long bait-and-switch has led the company right to where it promised never to be: addicting children and families to its platform, mining those users for data, and then converting that data into lucrative intelligence for global advertising juggernauts.