Netflix removed a number of show episodes and movies over the years to comply with foreign governments. There are many reasons why a particular title leaves a service, but these ones were the subject of a takedown demand.
Netflix is no stranger to seeing titles come and go and especially as licensing terms come to an end. This was most famously seen recently when Friends left Netflix en route back to the WarnerMedia vault. However, not all of the content that leaves the service, and especially in other parts of the world, is removed for such simple reasons. In some cases, specific show episodes and movies were removed from Netflix due to government takedown demands. According to Netflix, it was forced to remove the titles.
Netflix recently published its Environmental Social Governance report and the streaming service removed nine content items over the years following a demand from a foreign government body. The majority of the demands came from Singapore with Cooking on High, Disjointed and The Legend of 420 in 2018, along with The Last Temptation of Christ in 2019 and most recently, The Last Hangover in 2020. Elsewhere, The Bridge was removed in New Zealand in 2015, Full Metal Jacket from Vietnam in 2017, and Night of the Living Dead in Germany - also in 2017. Completing the list was an episode of Hasan Minha’s Patriot Act in 2019, which was removed from the service in Saudi Arabia.
Takedown Demands Likely To Become More Common
Netflix launched in 1997 and so nine pieces of content being removed from the service in twenty-three years is not a lot. However, it is still more than some might be expecting considering this is the first time Netflix has ever opened up about the demands. What is clear is that these are unlikely to be the last times a government agency requests that the subscription service removes content. Although the general public won’t have to wait another twenty-three years to find out where and when a title was removed. Netflix confirmed it is committed to releasing information like this on a more frequent basis and intends to report takedowns on an annually, starting from next year.
Of course, with an increase in the number of streaming services now available, and with many of them looking to branch out to international markets, it is unlikely Netflix will be the only one receiving takedown demands from governments and other agencies in the future. The question is whether those other services will be as transparent as Netflix now is?
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Source: Netflix
