Have you been watching “A Christmas Prince” on Netflix? Apparently the streaming service has been keeping tabs on who’s watching the film it produced. In case you missed it, they sent out a tweet on Sunday, “To the 53 people who've watched ‘A Christmas Prince’ every day for the past 18 days: Who hurt you?”
While Netflix clearly meant it as a joke, some people didn’t take too kindly to being shamed for their viewing habits. One user said, “Very creepy, Netflix. Not cool spying on your PAYING customers and then judging them in public.” Another was more to the point with, “Don’t call me out like that.”
Even though it may be a little unsettling for Netflix to send out tweets like that, they’re well within their rights. According to Bradley Shear, a lawyer specializing in privacy and social media, it doesn’t violate companies' privacy policies because they didn’t share viewing information in specific ways. But people need to be aware of what they agree to when they click “accept” on a company’s terms and conditions. Shear added, “People really need to be more cognizant of what data companies are collecting."