The NCPCR has exercised its powers under Section 14 of the CPCR Act, 2005, requesting Netflix representatives namely Monika Shergill, Vice President (Content) and Ambika Khurana, Head of Policy, Netflix India, to appear before the committee in person at 3 pm on July 29, 2024. Representation image
Although Netflix employs a comprehensive maturity rating system and parental controls, it has no mechanism to prevent minors from viewing adult content
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has summoned officials of OTT platform Netflix over allegations of providing “sexually explicit content” to minors on its platform. Prior to this, the NCPCR stated that the act violated the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act, 2012 due to “unrestricted access” to such content by minors.
The NCPCR has exercised its powers under Section 14 of the CPCR Act, 2005, requesting Netflix representatives namely Monika Shergill, Vice President (Content), Netflix India, and Ambika Khurana, Head of Policy, to appear before the committee in person on July 29, 2024 at 3 pm.
The letter highlights that the complaint filed by Save Culture Save Bharat Foundation accuses Netflix of illegally displaying content including “the private parts of men and women and between men and women, two men, two women, a group of men, a group of women, men and female groups (carnival)” etc. The complaint further accuses Netflix of showing extremely bizarre scenes and showing content that is highly inappropriate for young children. However, Netflix says minors can easily access the content.
The NCPCR said in the letter, “It has been observed that the unrestricted access of minors to sexually explicit content on Netflix is in violation of Section 11 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act, 2012. The section states that 'A when a Sexual molestation of a child is considered when a person exposes any object to a child with sexual intent in any form or media for pornographic purposes”.
The children's rights body previously raised the issue with Netflix in June, but the streaming platform did not respond.
Notably, Netflix has adopted a comprehensive rating system in India to ensure content is suitable for viewers of all age groups. Ratings are divided into three main categories: Children, Teens, and Adults, with each category having specific subcategories. Additionally, the platform allows setting a maturity rating level for profiles.
Users can set a profile's maturity rating on an Android phone or tablet, iPhone or iPad in the following ways:
1. Open the Netflix app.
2. Click My Netflix in the lower right corner.
3. Click the menu in the upper right corner.
4. Click Manage Profiles.
5. Select the profile you want to edit.
6. Click View restrictions.
7. Click Maturity Rating.
8. Enter your Netflix account password.
9. Set the desired maturity rating level.
However, it does not have any mechanism to restrict minors from viewing inappropriate content other than parental/user controls.
