Netflix Fined €4.75 Million for GDPR Violations in the Netherlands
The streaming giant Netflix has been fined €4.75 million by the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Dutch DPA) for breaching personal data processing regulations between 2018 and 2020. The investigation revealed that the company failed to adequately inform users about how their data was being handled.
Netflix collected various types of data, including email addresses, phone numbers, payment information, and user preferences for content viewing. However, the Dutch DPA found the company’s privacy policy lacked clear explanations regarding the purposes and legal grounds for processing this data.
Additionally, users who requested details about their personal data were not provided with sufficient clarifications. These violations contravened the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
According to Aleid Wolfsen, the chairman of the Dutch DPA, companies of Netflix’s scale, with millions of customers, must provide explicit explanations about how they handle personal data, particularly when responding to user inquiries.
Netflix was found to have provided insufficient information on several critical aspects:
- The purposes and legal bases for data processing;
- The transfer of data to third parties and the reasons for such transfers;
- Data retention periods;
- Security measures for transmitting data beyond Europe.
The investigation began in 2019 following complaints from the Austrian privacy advocacy group noyb. These complaints were redirected to the Netherlands, where Netflix’s European headquarters is located.
Under GDPR rules, companies operating in multiple EU countries are overseen by a lead regulator in the member state of their principal establishment. The Dutch DPA coordinated the investigation and determined the penalty amount in collaboration with other European regulatory bodies.
Netflix has since updated its privacy policy and enhanced its communication regarding data practices. However, the company is contesting the imposed fine, suggesting that this matter is far from resolved.
