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An Amazon error led to a child being shown a 15-rated film instead of a PG movie, prompting an apology from the company. The incident occurred on its Prime Video service when a parent, attempting to rent "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," found that "Love & Other Drugs"—a film the British Board of Film Classification warns contains "strong sex and sex references"—was streaming incorrectly. They complained to the media regulator Ofcom, which found Amazon in breach of its rules.
Amazon has apologised and fixed the issue, which it said was a result of the firm which licensed the films giving both the same code behind-the-scenes, when it is meant to be unique.
According to Ofcom's report, the tech giant said the issue was resolved in "less than 48 hours" - but during that time 122 customers had attempted to watch Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It said it had "updated its existing internal processes" to stop similar mistakes in the future.
"The complainant said they had rented the film for their young children to watch, but after the selected content began playing, the complainant became aware that the film that had actually played was a different film containing strong sexual content," the regulator said.
"The complainant said they contacted the service provider by telephone three times but received no call back. The complainant then made their complaint to Ofcom.
"Parents and carers would have accessed Diary of a Wimpy Kid on the basis that it was appropriate for their children to view, potentially unaccompanied by an adult (as had the complainant in this case).”
Ofcom has not fined Amazon for the error, however it said the firm had breached its rules.
