Let’s be real, it seems rare that something’s on telly or on a streaming site and absolutely no one has some complaint about it.
From kicking off about Britain’s Got Talent to having a problem with The Gentlemen, someone always has something to say – and often it’s pretty valid.
Amazon was forced to remove a film from Prime Video following just a singular complaint over a scene with a baby.
According to Deadline, the viewer reportedly tried to contact the company with the complaint but didn’t hear anything satisfactory back, and so went to Ofcom.
It was then found to be in breach of the media regulator’s code.
Added to Prime Video earlier this year, the controversial film in question is 2022’s Pamasahe, rated 18+ on the streaming site.
The Filipino movie is about a penniless mum who travels to find her husband in Manila but has no choice but to ‘use her body to get to her destination’.
Ofcom received a complaint about it from a viewer who said they were ‘concerned about the inclusion of a baby in scenes depicting sexual activity between adults’.
The media regulator said it then sought advice from the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and it was found that the sequence in Pamasahe ‘contains a frame that would contravene the Protection of Children Act 197’ – this is on the basis that the film shows ‘a child in the same frame as sexual activity’.
Amazon was then contacted by BBFC and they removed the film from the streaming site in the UK, Deadline reports.
The company say that it considered its measures detecting prohibited material to be ‘robust, complete and effective’, and that this was evidenced by ‘over a decade of content distribution under the supervision of Ofcom without any prior formal investigations from Ofcom’.
But Amazon did add that ‘these sorts of content policies are nuanced and we regularly evaluate where we can make improvements’.
Directed by Roman Perez Jr. Pamasahe only scored a three star rating on Prime Video before it was taken down, from just five reviews. And on IMDB, it has just 5.3 stars out of 10 from over 1,000 reviews.
And this film getting taken down could be a sign of things to come as the UK’s new Media Bill passed not long before parliament was dissolved for the upcoming Genny Lec.
The legislation gives Ofcom the power to bring streamers into line with the regulation of broadcasters in areas including harmful content.