What’s going on between Netflix and Facebook? Court documents that surfaced in the US the other day shed light on the close relationship between the two companies, raising privacy concerns. Netflix allegedly had the right to read Facebook users’ messages.
Did Facebook allow Netflix to read messages?
Documents that are part of an antitrust lawsuit against Facebook’s parent company Meta have revealed a deal between Netflix and the social media giant. In 2013, Netflix gained access to read the messages of some Facebook users.
With message access, Netflix provided Facebook with some analytics. It looked at how users interacted with content sent through Messenger. The company also allegedly analyzed information such as click-through rates and how often recommendations were shared.
After this close relationship, the Facebook Watch platform was shut down in 2022. The lawsuit claims that Meta sees Netflix as an important advertising partner and does not want to compete in the video space.
Netflix, on the other hand, significantly increased its annual ad spending on Facebook to about 150 million dollars. During this period, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings also served on Facebook’s board of directors.
Court filings also show that Facebook granted special access privileges to some partners, such as Netflix. The company was said to have this privilege due to its large advertising investments and close connections.
Meta, however, said it has standard practices with all companies. The social media giant denied Netflix’s claims that it accessed private user messages. It also reported that Facebook Watch was shut down because it did not achieve the expected success.
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