Netflix has caved to pressure from the Saudi government by pulling an episode of the show “Patriot Act” that the government believed showed Saudi Arabia in a negative light.
According to The Daily Wire:
Netflix has caved to the demands of the Saudi Arabian government by removing an episode of “Patriot Act” with Hasan Minhaj from streaming within the country in response to the kingdom’s complaints that the episode showed it in a negative light.
According to Deadline, Hasan Minhaj heavily criticized the Saudi regime in the episode over the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. He also blasted Silicon Valley for “swimming in Saudi cash.”
“Now would be a good time to reassess our relationship with Saudi Arabia,” Hasan said in the pulled episode. “And I mean that as a Muslim, and as an American.”
Netflix removed the episode from streaming after the Saudi government cited a local statute it allegedly violated. Article 6 of that law says that “production, preparation, transmission, or storage of material impinging on public order, religious values, public morals, and privacy, through the information network or computers” is a crime.
Netflix has a pattern of complying with local laws in foreign countries so this move isn’t shocking, but it is still disappointing that this type of content is still censored.
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