Netflix

Is Netflix safe?

Yes. Netflix is one of the lowest-risk big apps: nothing on it is uploaded by strangers, nobody can message you, and parents get proper controls for children's profiles. We score it 67/100, a little ahead of Duolingo (61) and Spotify (58), and well ahead of YouTube (54).

Two things keep it from scoring higher. Netflix's cheaper plans now carry ads, and the privacy statement shows those ads are targeted with a lot of data. And Netflix's brand is so familiar that criminals copy it constantly in phishing emails.

What the ad plan knows about you

Apple's privacy label for Netflix has no "Data Used to Track You" section, which is unusual for an app with ads. It lists eight categories linked to your identity, including search history, contact info and usage data, and says coarse location and usage data are used for third-party advertising.

The privacy statement fills in the detail. On ad plans, Netflix collects which ads you see and interact with, device and advertising identifiers, IP addresses and "inferences we make about you or your household". It receives data from advertisers, ad measurement companies and outside data providers, which may add demographic information and your approximate location, and it shares data back with them to choose and measure ads.

There are limits. Kids profiles never get behavioural ads, and Netflix says it does not knowingly sell or share data of anyone under 16. Each adult profile has a behavioural advertising switch in the account's privacy and data settings. Turn it off and you still get ads, just not targeted ones. Ad-free plans avoid most of this, although viewing history still shapes recommendations.

The €4.75 million Dutch fine

On 18 December 2024 the Dutch Data Protection Authority, which oversees Netflix in the EU because its European base is in the Netherlands, fined the company €4.75 million. Its investigation, started in 2019 after complaints by the Austrian privacy group noyb, found that from 2018 to 2020 Netflix did not explain clearly enough:

• why it collected personal data, and on what legal basis;
• which data it shared with other parties, and why;
• how long it kept data;
• how it protected data sent outside Europe.

Customers who asked Netflix what it held about them also got incomplete answers. "That must be crystal clear," the authority's chairman said. Netflix has since rewritten its privacy statement, and it objected to the fine. Like Spotify's Swedish fine, this was about transparency, not a leak.

Phishing is the real risk

Netflix's own systems have not suffered a known breach of customer accounts. The danger comes from outside: emails and texts saying your payment failed or your account is on hold, with a link to a fake login page that collects your password and card details.

Netflix's help page is blunt about it. Netflix will never ask for card numbers, bank details or your password by email or text, and never asks you to pay through a third-party site. Logins use a password or a one-time code; no authenticator-app two-step login was found. So a phished password, or one reused from another site, is usually all it takes to get in.

Anyone with your password can also see your viewing history and account details, and, if you play Netflix games, game chat and saves. The "Sign out of all devices" option in Account is the quickest way to cut off someone who should not be there.

Is Netflix safe for children?

Mostly, if you set it up. Kids profiles show a catalogue filtered by maturity rating and carry no behavioural ads, and you can set ratings on any secondary profile. The main profile on an account cannot be a Kids profile, so children need their own. Without a profile lock, nothing stops a child from tapping into an adult profile.

Netflix games are the one place where players can meet. The privacy statement says game handles, gameplay, chat and online status may be visible to other players in games with leaderboards or multiplayer.

How to use Netflix safely

1. Never sign in through a link in an email or text. Open the app or type netflix.com.
2. Use a password you do not use anywhere else, and change it if you ever shared it widely.
3. Give children a Kids profile and lock the adult profiles.
4. On an ad plan, switch off behavioural advertising for each profile.
5. Check where your account is signed in and use "Sign out of all devices" if you see something you do not recognise.

How we scored it

Content safety (80) is Netflix's strongest factor: licensed content, no messaging and solid profile controls. Privacy (58) is the weakest, because the ad plans use household inferences and outside data to target ads. Regulatory record (75) reflects one €4.75 million GDPRGDPRThe EU's General Data Protection Regulation, which sets rules on how organisations collect and use personal data and allows large fines.More in the glossary fine for poor transparency, and security (62) reflects a clean breach record but no two-step login in an app that phishers target constantly.