Rishi Sunak will give the broadcasting watchdog the power to take on Netflix for the first time, amid a row about accuracy in the Harry & Meghan documentary series.
Ministers are planning to pass a new law that would bring all streaming giants under the jurisdiction of Ofcom and hand it the power to impose fines of up to £250,000 ($476,000).
Viewers would also be able to complain to Ofcom about shows on Netflix, Amazon Prime and other services and see them investigated for breaches of a new code of conduct.
The plans are expected as soon as next year and will form part of the Government’s Media Bill, which will also promote “distinctively British content”, The Sunday Telegraph understands.
It comes after Netflix was accused of misleading viewers in Harry & Meghan, a six-part documentary series fronted by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and released over the last fortnight.
Harry and Meghan come across as boring in their new show. Photo / Netflix
A photograph used in the documentary’s trailer, purportedly showing how the couple were hounded by the press, later transpired to have been taken at a Harry Potter film premiere five years before the couple met.
The trailer also included footage that appeared to show photographers scrambling for a shot of the Duke and Duchess as they left a radio station studio in 2018, but which in reality depicted paparazzi chasing Katie Price, a former glamour model, outside a court where she had been sentenced for drink driving.
The documentary itself contained a recording of a speech by Queen Elizabeth II, delivered on her 21st birthday in South Africa, that had been edited in an apparent attempt to emphasise a quote about her love of the British Empire.
Royal sources complained that viewers learning about the late Queen and the Commonwealth for the first time from the documentary would be presented with an “appalling and factually inaccurate” account.
Under the broadcasting rules outlined in Ofcom’s code, “factual programmes or items or portrayals of factual matters must not materially mislead the audience”.
On the day Harry & Meghan was released, the regulator was forced to issue a statement reminding the public that while it was “sometimes contacted by people who’ve seen something they found harmful or offensive on a streaming service like Netflix”, it was powerless to take any action.
Meghan gives Harry a hug after he received a text from his brother William, Prince of Wales. Photo / Netflix
Michelle Donelan, the Culture Secretary, is hoping to bring forward the Media Bill next year to establish a legal basis for Ofcom to regulate streaming services that are not based in the UK, including Netflix and Apple TV+, which are based in the Netherlands and Ireland respectively.
A Netflix spokesman said the company was “supportive of the measures to update the legal framework and bring our service in the UK under Ofcom’s jurisdiction” but did not comment on claims of inaccuracy directed at the Harry & Meghan documentary.
