Facing backlash over its release of the film Cuties last year, Netflix took steps to adjust its search algorithm, a new report has revealed.
The streamer in 2020 faced criticism over the French movie Cuties, which follows an 11-year-old girl who joins a dance crew. The film was accused of sexualizing young girls after Netflix released a poster showing its main characters posing provocatively, which critics said didn't accurately convey the film's intent as a commentary on such hypersexualization. Amid this controversy, The Verge reports Netflix "scrambled to minimize public backlash by suppressing the film in search results prior to its release." The streamer reportedly removed Cuties from the "coming soon," "more like this," "coming later," "extras," and "popular searches" categories, and it also reportedly excluded the film from searches of the word "cute." Additionally, The Verge reports Netflix adjusted searches for the movie to ensure "steamy / sexual titles" and kids' movies would not appear.
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Netflix apologized last year for its "inappropriate artwork" for Cuties, noting it was not "representative" of the film.
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