03:22 AM EST, 12/19/2024 (MT Newswires) -- (Updates with Netflix's ( NFLX ) comments in the fifth and sixth paragraphs.)

Netflix ( NFLX ) has been fined 4.8 million euros ($5.0 million) by the Netherlands' Data Protection Authority for failing to clearly inform customers about how it used their personal data, the regulator said Wednesday.

The agency alleged that between 2018 and 2020, Netflix's ( NFLX ) privacy statement gave its customers unclear explanations about what information the content streaming service collected and what it did with it.

The agency said that Netflix ( NFLX ) has "since updated its privacy statement and improved its information provision."

The investigation was launched after a complaint by an Austrian privacy organization but referred to the Netherlands because it is Netflix's ( NFLX ) European base.

Netflix ( NFLX ) said in a statement to MT Newswires that the case dated back to between 2018 and 2020, when the European Union's new rules on data protection came into force and many companies were grappling with compliance.

"Since this investigation began over five years ago, we have cooperated with the Dutch Data Protection Authority and proactively evolved our privacy information to provide even greater clarity to our members," said a spokesperson. "We have objected to this decision."