Netflix

Netflix

Basic information
Founded	1997
Legal Structure	Public
Industry	Entertainment, Streaming
Also known as
Official website	https://www.netflix.com/

Netflix, Inc. is a media streaming service and publisher, founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph formerly for remote video rentals, it eventually became the pioneer of the video streaming industry in 2007, eventually turning to more anti-consumer practices in the mid-2010s and later.

• User freedom: Extensive history of restricting access to content, including paywalling higher quality content,^[1] increasing costs of service, combatting password sharing, and more.

• User privacy: Netflix openly discloses how it extensively collects (both directly and via third‐parties) and uses personal biometric information, location data, IP‐address and voice input data for marketing and advertising purposes. The service shares the collected data with third‐parties and targeted advertising networks and could store and process it anywhere in the world. Netflix also tracks its users via tracking pixels, web beacons, browser fingerprinting and uses third‐party cookies for statistics ignoring all Do Not Track browser signals. It retains the ability to disclose personal information without notifying the user. Users can request access and deletion of personal information however Netflix can keep personal data after a request for erasure for business interests or legal obligations. Users also have the ability to opt‐out of targeted advertising and limit how personal information is used by third parties and the service. Users also reserve the right to leave the service when they want to do so.^[2]

• Business model: Streaming service content, advertising overload

• Market control: Extensive, including free platforms like Roku TV and Pluto TV, and premium platforms such as Disney+, Hulu, and HBO Max.

Despite regular membership price hikes above inflation, features keep being removed.

Main article: Netflix stream-quality controversy

Discovered as early as December 2023,^[1][4] Netflix has not clearly defined^[5] every restriction for how users are capable of accessing higher quality streaming content, despite 4k content being a specified tier consumers pay for.

Main article: Advertising overload

Netflix's CEO trumpeted throughout 2019 and 2020 that they would never sell advertising.

When you read speculation that we are moving into selling advertising, be confident that this is false.^[6]

We want to be the safe respite where you can explore, you can get stimulated, have fun and enjoy – and have none of the controversy around exploiting users with advertising,^[7]

Inserting advertisements were being planned as early as July 2022.^[8]

Netflix was among one of the first^[9] premium streaming services to integrate advertisements on top of having to pay for the service. Since then, the platform has sought progressively more avenues to integrate advertisements, including further ads.^[10] These advertisements have also increased the amount of data that Netflix can collect and, by extension, sell.

Due to the amount of data that Netflix has been able to sell due to advertisement integration, it has also encouraged the company to raise the costs of ad-free tiers, so subscribers are forced either paying more to not see ads, or witness an increasing barrage of advertisements.^[11][10]

Additionally, starting from 2025, Netflix will be using generative AI to "serve the right ad to the right member at the right time" to subscribers of the lowest paying tier.^[12][13] The nature of generative AI raises concerns about the quality of these advertisements. Said advertisements may also encourage further user tracking in order to "tailor" the content. Consumers were especially provoked by certain phrases used by Netflix's President of Advertising, Amy Reinhard, at the Upfront 2025. Reinhard claimed that "When you compare us to our competitors, attention starts much higher and ends much higher. And even more impressive, members pay as much attention to mid-roll ads as they do to the shows and the movies themselves",^[13] which further raised concerns about user privacy.

Netflix has historically halted access for certain consumer devices merely due to the fact that these devices cannot support PlayReady DRM.^[14][15] The usage of DRM has also brought forth criticism from organizations such as Defective by Design and the Free Software Foundation.^[16][17]

Previously until October 2014, Linux couldn't support Netflix for streaming strictly due to a lack of DRM support.^[18]

From 2006 through 2010, Netflix held competitions to improve its recommendation system via 'The Netflix Prize'.^[19] These competitions had prizes that were valued at $50k or higher.^[19] This has brought several privacy concerns from its userbase, and led to at least 2 lawsuits^[20] concerning these competitions^[21][22] which were found to be capable of leaking identifiable information, and especially could have been worsened had their sequel series successfully launched, as data such as renters' ages, gender, ZIP codes, genre ratings and previously chosen movies were provided to these research teams.

In 2011, Netflix settled a lawsuit regarding the retention of user data that was at least 2 years old.^{[23][more citations needed]}

On November 26, 2024, the Dutch Data Protection Authority imposed an administrative fine of €4.75 million to Netflix for not properly informing customers about processing their data between the years 2018 and 2020. The lack of transparency and unclear information given by Netflix was in direct violation of several articles of the GDPR.^[24]

On July 15 2025,^[25] some games provided by the "Netflix Games" service were pulled. Games that were already downloaded became unplayable as well, causing users to lose access to their saved games with no way to transfer or even play them since most were exclusive to Netflix Games.

Casting footage over Apple AirPlay, a feature available since 2013, was removed without any warning or announcement in April 2019. The removal was because Apple devices did not report user and device metrics back to Netflix. The support pages were updated to indicate this was due to "technical limitations".^[26][27][28]

In 2024, Netflix removed the ability to download videos for offline viewing for Microsoft Windows app users, with no reason given. When questioned by the media, Netflix refused to provide any additional comment.^{[29][30][31][32]}

A new Netflix app for Windows is coming soon, which includes support for watching live events, increased streaming quality, compatibility with ad-supported plans, and more. While downloads will no longer be supported, you can continue to watch TV shows and movies offline on a supported mobile device.^[33]

On November 10th 2025, without any warning or announcement, Netflix removed the casting feature from all their mobile apps. They claimed it was because few members used the feature. However, the change was widely attributed to the crackdown on account sharing, and allowing Netflix to gather more user data.^{[34][35][36][37]}

In June 2026, in further efforts to crack down on account sharing and gather more user data, Netflix began requiring each individual viewing profile to have its own unique e-mail address. The change was widely criticized by subscribers.^[38][39]

Netflix, like other streaming services, automatically plays another unsolicited video (trailer or episode) by default in order. In a scientific study, this has shown to significantly increase viewing hours since it deprives people of the time to actively decide if they want to continue watching or not.^[40]

The feature can also be considered disrespectful to the filmmakers who worked on the productions as their names are no longer shown at the end because end credits are cut off by the feature.^[41]

Users have also complained that they are subjected to the same trailers over and over again with no way to decline:^[41]

Netflix wants me to watch The Diplomat so badly, I can’t even have 10 seconds for a little cry after finishing Adolescence without being forced to dive for the remote to stop Netflix autoplaying the trailer for The Diplomat. […] It’s not just Adolescence. It actually doesn’t seem to matter what I choose to watch; Netflix offers The Diplomat. Robert Eggers’ The Northman? Try The Diplomat, Netflix tells me 10 seconds into the credits. Dune: Part Two? You’ll love The Diplomat. The Brutalist? KPop Demon Hun– just kidding.

The feature is on by default, but can be disabled in Netflix Settings.

After having a Netflix subscription lapse, Netflix and Roku have a dark pattern to reactivate the subscription and charge the customer's credit card immediately.

The pattern happens like this:

1. Have a Netflix account that was previously used on the Roku box.
2. Press the "Netflix" button on the remote. (The user is immediately taken to Netflix with no confirmation.)
3. Press the "OK" button on the remote. This charges the user's credit card immediately.

The subscription will be reactivated without any confirmation.

This is in contrast to the other video services on the remote (Hulu, CBS, etc.) that wait for the user to confirm before switching to the new app (requiring intentionally moving the selected option from "Cancel" to "Launch"), which implies that this is an intentional dark pattern implemented by Netflix and Roku to cause users to unknowingly reactivate their Netflix subscription.

On April 1st, 2026, a court in Rome, Italy, stated that Netflix's price hikes from 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2024 were unlawful and not justified with valid reasons. The lawsuit was brought by a consumer-advocate movement named Movimento Consumatori, claiming the price modifications were violating the Consumer Code, an Italian legislation aimed to protect Italian consumer rights.

The Rome court mandated Netflix to inform their Italian consumers about the right to get a refund in the next 90 days. Consumers subscribed to the premium tier have the right to get a refund of approximately 500 euros, and standard tier subscribers have the right to get a refund of approximately 250 euros. Basic tier subscribers also have the right to get a refund.

Along with this, Netflix was also mandated to modify their subscription prices in Italy, with the order to modify premium tier price from €19.99 to €11.99 and the standard tier price from €13.99 to €9.99.

A Netflix spokeperson appealed, claiming they "take consumer rights very seriously" and they believe their terms and conditions "have always been in line with Italian law and practice".^[42]

• Crunchyroll
• Disney+
• HBO Max
• Hulu
• Roku