Amazon was recently called out for allowing a 15-rated movie to be inadvertently streamed to a child. The poor kid had just checked out a PG-rated film! One parent’s effort to retrieve “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” for their underage kids using Prime Video streaming service led to a surprise. They discovered that “Love & Other Drugs,” a film with very explicit sexuality, began screening.
The parent, who called Amazon’s customer service several times, said she was alarmed by the switch. Even after many such trial and error attempts to emergency fix the problem, they said they got no response from Amazon’s service responder. This has understandably alarmed parents and regulators alike, sounding the alarm on how appropriate the content that is available to children actually is.
Therefore, the British Board of Film Classification has declared “Love & Other Drugs” as not suitable for children. They pointed out that the film includes high-level sexual content and sexual innuendos. This precarious situation points to the broader need for accurate content discovery on streaming services and even more critically, when it comes to kids’ programming.
Ofcom, the communications regulator for the United Kingdom, reacted strongly to the incident. They encouraged the point that parents typically choose movies such as “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” thinking it’s something that would be safe for kids.
“The complainant said they had rented the film for their young children to watch, but after the selected content began playing, the complainant became aware that the film that had actually played was a different film containing strong sexual content,” – regulator (Ofcom)
Ofcom echoed that concern, saying adults usually pick out titles such as “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” believing them to be child-appropriate. This decision makes it a lot easier for children to see them without any adult oversight.
After the outcry, Amazon issued an apology for including this incendiary mistake. The product company took ownership over making sure that users were getting the appropriate content based on what they reserved a rental vehicle to receive. Only time will tell what steps Amazon will take to avoid this type of situation going forward.