The “Scenarios” program (9/15/2022) continued, accusing these platforms of violating the standards and controls applicable to works directed at children in particular, against the background of a statement issued by the Electronic Media Committee in the Gulf Cooperation Council states, in which the committee indicated that it demanded the Netflix platform to remove Offending content.
For his part, Noureddin Milady, Professor of Media and Communication at Qatar University, explained that the growing influence of Netflix on the behavior of young people in the Arab world and its increasing presence in the Arab region made the Gulf Cooperation Council take this step, given that the content has become deeply rooted in Arab and Islamic culture and principles in the region.
He believed that the category most closely following these platforms are teenagers, as they watch films that implant habits that are not appropriate for our Arab societies, indicating that some young people have become addicted to these platforms because they are not limited to the screen and are available in all electronic devices.
For his part, Khaled Al-Qahs, a professor of media at Kuwait University, explained that the description of the statement of the Gulf Cooperation Council and Egypt was broad and not specific as to what content is required to be removed, indicating that this description makes the Arab Ramadan drama also inconsistent with Islamic values.
He added that the Netflix platform deals with the demands that specify the materials to be deleted in the event that they conflict with some laws, but it does not deal with broad terms that do not specify the materials that violate the laws of a particular country.
lost battle
As for Kristen McCorter, professor of media at Howard University, she believed that trying to ban some Netflix content from the Arab region would be a losing battle, unless Arab countries were able to prove that the media content of these films contradicts Arab laws.
She considered that the Netflix platform is not responsible for the appropriateness of the content, whether it is good or bad, because the matter is cultural and relative, as it does not bear responsibility for media materials and does not care about certain values for specific countries, but rather cares about what brings them material profits.
It is noteworthy that the General Secretariat of the Gulf Cooperation Council said that the committee held a meeting to discuss what was observed in the recent period of the platform broadcasting some visual materials and content that violates the controls of media content in the GCC countries, which contradicts Islamic and societal principles.
The statement stated that the Netflix platform was contacted to remove this content and comply with the regulations, and the statement concluded by saying that if the violating content continues to be broadcast, the necessary legal measures will be taken.
In Egypt, the Supreme Council for the Regulation of Media Affairs called on digital broadcasting platforms to abide by the societal norms and values of the state, and not to broadcast technical and television materials that contradict them.
The council confirmed that it is in the process of issuing regulations and licenses for digital broadcasting platforms to obligate them to societal values, warning against broadcasting materials that contradict these values and norms, as the necessary measures will be taken against them immediately.