Dutch Privacy Watchdog Fined Netflix for Violating Personal Data

The Dutch privacy watchdog fined Netflix Inc. €4.75 million ($5 million) for violating user data.

The Dutch Data Protection Agency said in a statement on Wednesday that the inquiry "demonstrates that Netflix did not inform customers clearly enough in its privacy statement about" what it did with their data between 2018 and 2020.

Additionally, the regulator stated that when users inquired about the data that Netflix gathers about them, they were not given enough information.

According to the regulator, Netflix has since upgraded its information provision and revised its privacy statement. 

"To give our members even more clarity, we have actively updated our privacy information and collaborated with the Dutch Data Protection Authority," a Netflix representative stated. "We have challenged this ruling."

Increasing data breaches, rising public awareness of privacy, and a series of fines have elevated the agency's profile.

The fines are essential. "They make companies pay attention," said Aleid Wolfsen, chairman of the Dutch Data Protection Authority, in an interview in The Hague last week. "If you don't use the stick, they don't listen to you, and don't take you seriously when it comes to prevention or giving guidance," he warned. 

This year, the watchdog fined Uber Technologies Inc. a record €290 million for failing to adequately protect driver data, the largest penalty it has ever assessed against a firm.

"Big technology companies have so much personal data about people and sometimes they illegally exchange them with other organizations," according to Wolfsen.