Trigger Warning: The article contains references to child pornography, rape, or sex trafficking.
A Court of Appeals on Monday voted in favor of Netflix while blocking a Texas district attorney from pursuing a child pornography case against the streaming giant for showing the French film Cuties.
The 3-0 ruling of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals was in line with an earlier ruling of a lower court injunction imposed on the prosecution.
The film Cuties premiered on Netflix in September 2020. The coming-of-age drama film directed by Maïmouna Doucouré centers around an 11-year-old girl in Paris who joins a dance group named Cuties. The primary theme of the movie revolves around the premature sexualization of teen girls in the age of social media.
Exploring the lawsuit and what this victory means for Netflix
After Netflix released Cuties in September 2020, Lucas Babin, the D.A. in Tyler County, Texas, charged the streaming platform for “promotion of lewd visual material depicting a child.”
Netflix took the case to a federal court, arguing that Lucas Babin is pursuing the case in bad faith and has no intention of obtaining a conviction. The Federal Court in November 2022 granted Netflix’s request for an injunction, saying the court was convinced that Cuties does not contain child pornography.
Lucas Babin, a former actor best known for playing Spider in School of Rocks, then took his case to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. The said court gave a unanimous 3-0 ruling in favor of Netflix on Monday.
Judge Don R. Willet said in his ruling, “Netflix has shown at this stage that it has been subjected to a bad faith prosecution, an injury we have already deemed irreparable.” Adding to his statement, he further said, “The balance of equities also favors Netflix. It has an obvious interest in the continued exercise of its First Amendment rights, and the state has no legitimate interest in a bad-faith prosecution.”
First Amendment rights include the freedom of speech and expression and the freedom of the press, among other rights.
The Appeals Court ruling in favor of Netflix is a big relief for the streaming platform given that Lucas Babin dropped his initial lewd material charge in February 2022 and charged Netflix for distributing child pornography.
ALSO READ: What is Ketamine and its effects? Exploring the chemical as Matthew Perry’s autopsy report comes out
Motion Pictures Association, Penguin Random House, and many others backed Netflix
A group including the Motion Pictures Association, Penguin Random House, the Texas Tribune, and many other media and publication houses backed Netflix by filing an amicus brief in June this year.
The group argued that the prosecution of Cuties could further impact the reporting of important issues like rape and child sex trafficking.
Director Maïmouna speaks about why she made the film
Maïmouna Doucouré, the director of the coming-of-age French film Cuties, said in a Netflix promotional video that she made the film to call attention to the sexualization of young girls in the age of social media.
“We are able to see the oppression of women in other cultures. But my question is, “Isn’t objectification of a woman’s body that we often see in our Western culture not another kind of oppression?”
Disclaimer: If you know someone who is struggling with abuse, please reach out and report it. There are several helplines available for the same.
