Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has filed a lawsuit against Roku, Inc., claiming the company violates the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the Michigan Consumer Protection Act.

The lawsuit, filed on April 29 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, accused the streaming platform of collecting and allowing third parties to collect the personal information of children without obtaining parental consent or the required notice. Nessel alleges that Roku does not offer parents the ability to create children's profiles. 

In her lawsuit, Nessel claims that "Roku systematically collects, processes, and discloses the personal information of children, including their locations, voice recordings, IP addresses, and persistent identifiers that track children's browsing histories on Roku and across the internet," which are categories protected under COPPA. 

The lawsuit alleges that Roku allows third-party channels to collect the personal information of children to increase advertising revenue and attract content providers to its streaming platform. 

"Roku has blatantly violated children's privacy laws, illegally exposing kids across Michigan to invasive data collection practices," Nessel said. "We cannot allow companies to jeopardize the security of our children's personal information. My office remains committed to holding accountable companies that violate the rights of Michigan families and seek to profit at the expense of children's safety and privacy." 

Roku issued the following statement in response to Nessel's lawsuit: 

"Roku strongly disagrees with the allegations in today's filing, which do not reflect how our services work or our efforts to protect viewer privacy. We plan to challenge these inaccurate claims and look forward to demonstrating our commitment to trust and compliance.

Roku respects and values the privacy of our users. We do not use or disclose children's personal information for targeted advertising or any other purpose prohibited by law, nor do we partner with third-party web trackers or data brokers to sell children's personal information.

We take the responsibility of creating a safe and trusted online environment seriously. Our viewers rely on Roku for engaging content, and we take pride in connecting our viewers to the streaming content they love every day."

Nessel is asking for Roku to stop its alleged illegal data collection and disclosure practices, require the company to comply with state and federal law and recover civil penalties, damages and restitution for the company's years of alleged misconduct.