PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla., Sept. 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Florida’s newly filed lawsuit against Netflix should serve as a warning to technology and entertainment companies that concerns about children’s online safety now extend far beyond traditional social media, according to Rafferty Rafferty Cunningham & Yaffa shareholder Troy A. Rafferty.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Wednesday that the state is suing Netflix over allegations involving the collection of children’s data and features the state says are designed to keep young users watching for extended periods.

The lawsuit takes particular aim at Netflix’s ad-supported subscription tier, introduced in 2022. According to the allegations, Netflix collects substantial behavioral information about children, including what they select, replay and avoid, without providing parents sufficiently clear disclosure about those practices. The state also points to features including autoplay, arguing that they encourage binge watching and can undermine parental efforts to control children’s screen time.

“This case is important because it moves the conversation beyond social media,” said Rafferty. “Parents increasingly understand that platforms can be designed to keep children scrolling. But the same fundamental questions need to be asked anywhere a company is collecting information about children while simultaneously designing a product to maximize the amount of time they spend using it.”

Florida is asking the court to require Netflix to delete certain data the state alleges was deceptively collected, restrict the use of data collected before the company introduced advertising, and change its practices concerning data collected from children. The attorney general said the state intends to seek billions of dollars in damages.

For Rafferty, who has been outspoken about the responsibility of technology companies to protect children, the allegations raise two issues that are increasingly difficult to separate: what companies know about young users and what they do with that knowledge.

“Data collection is not an abstract privacy issue when children are involved,” Rafferty said. “If a company knows what keeps a child watching, what they skip, what they replay and how they interact with a platform, that information can potentially become part of how the product is refined to hold attention. That is where parents deserve transparency.”

The lawsuit comes amid growing scrutiny of technology companies and the ways digital products affect children. Much of that attention has centered on social media platforms, including allegations that recommendation systems, notifications, endless scrolling and other engagement features can contribute to compulsive use.

Rafferty said the Netflix litigation suggests regulators may increasingly examine the same underlying principles across the broader digital economy.

“There shouldn’t be one standard for a social media company and another simply because a company calls itself a streaming service,” Rafferty said. “The question should be what the product is doing. Is it collecting information about children? Is it using design choices intended to keep them engaged? Do parents genuinely understand what is happening? And are parents being given meaningful tools to control it?”

Netflix has long marketed children’s profiles as providing families with kid-friendly programming and parental controls such as maturity restrictions and profile locks. Florida’s lawsuit alleges that those assurances do not adequately disclose the extent of behavioral information collected from younger users.

That distinction could become increasingly important as lawmakers, regulators and courts wrestle with the responsibilities companies have when children use products originally designed for adults and families.

“Parents cannot make meaningful decisions without meaningful information,” Rafferty said. “A parental-control button does not answer every question about how a product interacts with a child. Parents also need to understand what information is being collected and whether the architecture of the product itself is working against the limits they are trying to establish at home.”

Rafferty cautioned that the allegations against Netflix remain allegations and will have to be tested through the legal process. But he said the broader questions raised by the case are unlikely to disappear regardless of its eventual outcome.

“We are moving toward a much larger conversation about responsibility in the digital products children use every day,” Rafferty said. “Social media was the beginning of that conversation. It was never going to be the end.”

About Rafferty Domnick Cunningham & Yaffa

Rafferty Domnick Cunningham & Yaffa is a leading Florida law firm dedicated to advocating for victims of mass torts, medical malpractice and corporate negligence. With a track record of holding powerful institutions accountable, the firm fights for justice on behalf of individuals and families affected by preventable harm.

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