Sep 7, 2022

Arab countries are demanding that Netflix remove offensive content to "Islamic and social values"

Saudi Arabia and several neighboring Middle Eastern countries have demanded that Netflix remove non-Islamic content.

The title was not specified by name, but Saudi Arabia's state-run network Al Ekhbariya TV shared a news segment on a request that included a blurred clip of the animated series Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, in a tweet that the network called Netflix "an attempt to promote child homosexuality under the cover of the film." In a follow-up tweet, the broadcaster added that streamers "threaten the healthy upbringing of children.""

According to a report from the Associated Press, the Saudi network also aired a video featuring a woman identified as a behavioral consultant who called Netflix an "official sponsor of homosexuality."

Calls for the removal of "problematic" content came from the Gulf Cooperation Council, a group that includes Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar. Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E.Also released their own statement directed at streamers.

In a statement, the organization said:

[Content] violates Islamic and social values and principles. Therefore, the platform has been contacted to remove this content, including content for children, and to ensure compliance with the law...If the offending content is still available, necessary legal action will be taken.

Netflix is not the first Western media giant to run into content problems in the Middle East. Earlier this year, several and other countries in the region refused to allow Disney screen Lightyear if the company did not remove same-sex kisses in its films. Disney refused, and the film did not play in other countries that have made similar requests to Saudi Arabia.

In China, meanwhile, media censors have become creative and added a new ending to their minions: the rise of the Gru to promote government values and principles.