Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up DUBAI, Sept 6 (Reuters) – Gulf Arab states have asked U.S. streaming giant Netflix ( NFLX.O ) to remove content deemed offensive to “Islamic and social values” in the region, the media regulator said on Tuesday of Saudi Arabia. It did not specify the content, but said it included content aimed at children. Saudi Arabia’s state-run Al Ekhbariya television network, in a program discussing the issue, showed blurry animation clips that appeared to show two girls embracing. The statement by the Riyadh-based General Audiovisual Media Commission said the content violated media regulations in the Gulf Cooperation Council, which groups Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait. . Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up If Netflix continues to stream the content, then “necessary legal action will be taken,” he said, without elaborating. Netflix did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The United Arab Emirates issued a similarly worded statement on Netflix content on Tuesday, saying it would monitor what the platform broadcasts in the coming days and “assess its commitment to broadcast controls” in the country. Same-sex relationships are criminalized in many Muslim-majority nations, and films featuring such relationships have previously been banned by regulators in those countries, while others with profanity or illegal drug use are sometimes censored. The United Arab Emirates and other Muslim nations earlier this year banned Walt Disney-Pixar’s animated film “Lightyear” from theaters because it featured characters in a same-sex relationship. read more Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi in Riyadh and Alexander Cornwell in Dubai. Ghaida Ghantous writes. Edited by Rosalba O’Brien Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
