The Netflix Era

How effective is Film & TV regulation in the Netflix era?

Film and TV regulation in the Netflix era has not been very effective, because as mentioned in the source, “if Netflix's adventure in original content produce something so distasteful the BBFC does not award a classification, it could simply go ahead and distribute it anyway.” This essentially means that even if Netflix and the BBFC do not see eye to eye on the classification of a film or programme, Netflix could regulate the content on their application themselves, without the BBFC’s input. Therefore, if something has been rated highly by the BBFC, a person may be able to watch it at a lower age rating on Netflix. Additionally, if you have access to a credit/debit card, it does not matter what your age is, you can create a Netflix account, and you can watch whatever has been put on there, no restrictions whatsoever. Even though there is a ‘childrens section’ on Netflix, it is very easy to access the ‘adult side’ of Netfix, where you can be exposed to extreme violence, bad language etc. If Netflix and the BBFC do not come to some sort of mutual agreement on the classifications, then it will make regulation ineffective.

Should society or the individual or an educated elite decide what is a appropriate level of sex and violence to expose children to?

It should be up to the individual to decide what is an appropriate level of sex and violence that children should be exposed to, because not every child is the same. If the parent of that child decides that that their child is ‘mature’ enough to be exposed to certain content, then that should not be disputed, as parents are supposed to know what is best for their child. However, it can also be argued that society as a whole should make the decision, as we are a diverse group of people, who understand