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Credit: Inside the MagicMinisters were told that Disney+ classifies scenes of sexual abuse as suitable for nine-year-olds.
Conservative MPs in the United Kingdom have told the government that Disney+ must rein in its content to sit in line with the UK’s age rating standards.
According to The Standard, ministers in Parliament were told that The Walt Disney Company’s streaming service classified scenes of sexual abuse as suitable for nine-year-olds and scenes of graphic misogynistic violence or offensive antisemitic stereotypes as suitable for 12-year-olds.
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Among those members of government pushing for better age rating control on streaming platforms was Conservative MP Miriam Cates, who urged that Disney+ should be mandated to use either the British Board of Film Classification, or BBFC, or equivalent standards of guidance.
This action to mandate streaming services like Disney+ comes as part of the proposed Media Bill, which looks to update draconian broadcasting laws, with Cates saying: “We urgently need to apply the same standards of child protection to on-demand video as we do to cinema releases, physical DVDs and linear TV,” per The Standard‘s report.
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It was Sir Gary Streeter, another Conservative Party MP, who claimed Disney+ allowed children aged nine to view content featuring scenes of sexual abuse, with him telling The Standard that streamers need to be brought in line or they risk “eroding public trust.”
The United Kingdom is not the only country that has displayed worry about content on streamers like Disney+. When TV-MA shows like Daredevil and Jessica Jones merged onto Disney+ back in 2022, consumers were worried about adult content being made available on a service that also includes family favorites like Disney’s classic animated cartoons.
Concerns flared when the Parents Television and Media Council, the PTC, weighed in on the new additions, with PTC president Tim Winter saying in a press release (via Inside the Magic) that “it seems wildly ‘off-brand’ for Disney+ to add TV-MA and R-rated programming to this platform, ostensibly to increase subscription revenue. So what comes next, adding live striptease performances in Fantasyland at Disney World?”
Upon the merging and addition of more adult content to Disney+, the House of Mouse did install parental controls on the streaming service to allow parents and guardians of children to suitably control what type of content can be consumed. Since then, though, Disney+ and Hulu have merged following Disney’s buyout of the latter at the end of last year, meaning that more and more varied content will be included in everyone’s subscription if they choose a specific package.
Do you think there should be more content controls in place for services like Disney+? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!