The Kenya Film and Classification Board (KFCB) has warned parents against letting their underage kids watch the viral Netflix show “Squid Games”.
KFCB acting Chief Executive Officer(CEO), Christopher Wambua spoke to Netflix officials in Kenya and clearly informed them that Squid Game should be promoted as adult content because of its violent and gory scenes.
According to Wambua, the popular show which has managed to amass over 110 million views since it premiered in September and easily became Netflix’s most-watched series yet, should be approached with care following past successful shows that have had negative influence on youths in the country.
“It will be recalled that in 2021, a Kenyan youth is reported to have confessed as having murdered his parents and siblings on account of the influence of a film titled ‘Killing Eve’. Further, in 2017, another popular challenge game dubbed ‘Blue Whale’, allegedly led to suicide among teenagers in various parts of the world including Kenya,” he noted.
Just like his predecessor Ezekiel Mutua, Wambua asked parents to be very cautious about what they let their kids watch.
‘The board takes this opportunity to advise parents, caregivers, and guardians to be more vigilant and monitor the content their children are consuming on media platforms and guide them appropriately. This is particularly important, as we approach the December holidays when children are likely to have unlimited access to media channels,” said Wambua.
Wambua noted that KFCB has already communicated to Google to ensure scenes of the movies are not available on the platform and has instructed Netflix to grade the film as adult content with immediate effect.
“The board and Netflix will constitute a joint team to deliberate on the mechanisms of fast-tracking the platform’s application of the local classification system on Netflix’s programming that is accessible within Kenya,” Wambua said.
