Netflix Faces $5 Million Fine For Data Privacy Violations: Here’s What We Know So Far

American Video Content Streaming Service Netflix has faced a fine of $5 Million from the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA). The fine is imposed over the handling of customer data and data privacy violations. As per reports, the company couldn’t comply with the European data protection regulations and hence it resulted in a hefty amount of fine. In addition, it has been found out that Netflix has often showcased disregard towards user rights and thus it highlights the company’s broader issue in customer data handling strategies.

The Dutch Data Protection Authority found out that Netflix has not provided a sufficient document on how it collects user data ranging from the year 2018 to 2020. The authority raised several concerns over data protection and its transparency. The concern majorly focuses on how Netflix processes the personal information of users.

However, Netflix said that it has appealed against the fine and that the company has fully cooperated with the authority’s data protection law and hence changed its policies. The DPA chairperson, Aleid Wolfsen said in a statement, “Between 2018 and 2020, Netflix did not provide customers with enough information about what the company does with their data. And the information that Netflix did provide was unclear in some areas”

As per reports, the penalty is small because the company has gained a global revenue of $33.723 billion in 2023 which is more than the revenue generated in 222 and 2021 of $31.616 billion and $29.698 billion respectively.

As per Article 15 of the General Data Protection Regulation, companies must provide their users with a proper and comprehensive copy of their data, data sources, purposes, recipients, retention period, and storage locations. Recently, Meta has also been fined €251 million (US$264 million) for a personal data breach by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC). Companies not complying with government authorities over data collection has become a paramount issue globally.