Netflix is a subscription streaming service owned by the American company Netflix, Inc. Launched on August 29, 1997, it initially offered DVD rental and sale by mail, but the sales were eliminated within a year to focus on the DVD rental business. In 2007, the company began transitioning to its current subscription streaming model. Since its launch, the company was subject to numerous criticisms, the basis of which range from its business practices and workplace culture to issues with the service it provides, including content issues, lack of close captioning and pricing. This article provides an overview of key criticisms the company has faced.
Artistic concerns
Film creator concern with allowing users to change playback speed In October 2019, Netflix began to experiment with allowing users to change the speed at which content is being played, ranging from half the original speed, to up to one-and-a-half times faster the original speed. The feature was deployed to selected users of the service's Android app. The feature was criticized by various members of the film industry, who argued that it harmed the artistic integrity of their work. Netflix vice president Keela Robison stated that the feature "generated a fair amount of feedback – both for and against," and noted use cases for slowing down playback, such as helping viewers locate details in scenes, or making it easier to understand dialogue in foreign languages if they are still learning the language. Robison also noted that they had deliberately limited the rollout of the feature due to "creator concerns," and that such functions had already been available on DVD players.
Showing copyrighted subtitles of Bicycle Thieves In 2015, Netflix and Cinedigm were sued by Corinth Films over its streaming of the 1948 Italian film Bicycle Thieves; although the film itself was considered public domain in the United States, distinct subtitling or dubbing of the film can still be considered a separate and copyrightable work. Corinth alleged that the specific version of the film, registered by Richard Feiner & Co. and owned by Corinth, was being licensed by Cinedigm to Netflix without permission. The parties later settled.
Eligibility for Academy Awards Steven Spielberg, governor of the directive branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), has questioned the eligibility of Netflix's feature films for Academy Award nominations since films are released simultaneously in cinemas and via video on demand, in defiance of the standard three-month release window. While Netflix had previously given its theatrical acquisitions a simultaneous release in theaters and streaming, Roma was the first under a new policy to provide at least a three-week theatrical run before streaming release. According to the official rules of the Academy, a film only needs to be screened in the city of Los Angeles for seven days, with a minimum of three public showings per-day, to qualify for an Oscar nomination. However, the eligibility criteria do allow for simultaneous releases on non-theatrical platforms.
Spielberg complained that films "that are just given token qualifications in a couple of theaters for less than a week" shouldn't qualify. Following the 91st Academy Awards (during which Roma became the first film distributed by a streaming service to be nominated for Best Picture, and won Best Foreign Language Film and two other awards), a spokesperson for Spielberg's studio, Amblin Partners, stated that he "feels strongly about the difference between the streaming and theatrical situation," and would address the issue at the Academy's next board of governors meeting in April 2019.
Critics argued that Roma had an unfair advantage, singling out the service's wide availability, refusal to report box office numbers, disrespect of the industry's standard release windows with only three weeks of exclusive theatrical play (although it is not uncommon for some nominees to only receive the week-long minimum run), and excessive marketing spend (with reports ranging between $25 and $50 million, although its Oscars marketing was rolled into Netflix's overall marketing budget, which should not be). Due to its contravention of the standard three-month windows used by all major distributors, national cinema chains have refused to carry Netflix's theatrical releases. Netflix defended its distribution model, arguing that it was devoted to "[providing] access for people who can't always afford, or live in towns without, theaters. Letting everyone, everywhere enjoy releases at the same time. Giving filmmakers more ways to share art. These things are not mutually exclusive."
The U.S. Department of Justice warned the Academy that attempts to change its rules to discriminate against Netflix and other streaming platforms could violate antitrust law, as the parent companies of the traditional major studios (in particular, AT&T and Disney) have been making investments into streaming services that directly compete with Netflix.
In April 2019, the Academy voted against making any changes to its eligibility criteria, but AMPAS president John Bailey stated that the organization would study changes to the industry.
Spielberg missed the meeting due to his ongoing work on a remake of West Side Story. In a remark to The New York Times, Spielberg stated that while people should still have access to theatrical releases due to the communal experience that they provide, they should, at the same time, be able to "find their entertainment in any form or fashion that suits them," and that "what really matters to me is a great story and everyone should have access to great stories."
Beginning at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, films may now be restricted from screening at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto—one of the festival's main venues—and screened elsewhere (such as TIFF Bell Lightbox and other local cinemas) if distributed by a service such as Netflix. Organizers stated that the restriction was due to a policy enforced by the facility's owner and operator, Cineplex Entertainment, requiring adherence to three-month theatrical windows.
Quantity over quality Netflix has increasingly offered large quantities of original content as part of its lineup. In 2021, it announced that the service would release a new original film each week. However, the outlet has been criticized by viewers and critics for the overall low quality of most of the output. One such critic, Hayley Campbell, commented on BBC Sounds' Must Watch podcast that one possible reason for Netflix's loss of subscribers in the 2020s is due to a lack of high-quality content on Netflix. She contrasted this with the Apple TV+ strategy of investing in a small number of high-quality projects, and with the focus of Amazon Prime Video on third-party content. Early employee Cindy Holland had compared Netflix acquiring DVDs to "shoveling coal in the side door of the house"; n+1 in 2025 was told of Netflix executives who greenlit projects without reading the scripts, and screenwriters ordered to have characters state their actions so viewers watching Netflix as a second screen know what is happening. The magazine described "a mind-numbing anticinema" style that appeared after the 2021 announcement, "the Typical Netflix Movie (TNM)":
"Every week Netflix seemed to deliver a new movie no one had ever heard of that somehow broke every viewing record in the world", n+1 wrote, because it releases little or no viewership data.
Netflix originals Its distribution model for films labeled "Netflix originals" has led to conflicts with the legacy of the film industry. Some cinema chains have refused to screen films distributed theatrically by Netflix as the company's release method reduces or extinguishes standard release windows. After COVID-19 mandates forced theaters around the country to close for several months in 2020, the next year WarnerMedia, Disney and Universal each released films on their respective streaming services, HBO Max, Disney+, and Peacock, on the same day they were released in theaters.
Stylistic homogeneity Some commentators have criticised Netflix for producing films and series that are stylistically homogenous. Josh Rosenberg of Esquire has argued that there is "a striking sameness to the streaming service's offerings." Some commentators have dubbed the term "Netflix lighting" to describe the similar lighting styles across Netflix content. Gita Jackson of Vice News has argued that "Although it's hard to pinpoint what exactly makes all Netflix shows look the same, a few things stand out: The image in general is dark, and the colors are extremely saturated; Especially in scenes at night, there tends to be a lot of colored lighting, making everything look like it's washed in neon even if the characters are inside; Actors look like the makeup is caked on their faces, and details in their costumes like puckering seams are unusually visible; Most annoying to me, everything is also shot in an extremely conventional way, using the most conventional set ups to indicate mystery or intrigue as possible—to indicate that something weird is going on the framing always has a dutch angle, for example—or more often just having everyone shot in a medium close up."
Controversial content Use of censored version of Back to the Future Part II In May 2020, a scene from Back to the Future Part II involving the adult-magazine cover that Marty McFly discovers, and two lines from McFly, were censored, which led to criticism from film preservationists and fans. Netflix quickly restored the original scene after hearing the issue from co-writer Bob Gale, mentioning that it was apparently "a foreign version which he or Robert Zemeckis didn't even know existed, for some country that had a problem with the magazine cover". Netflix does not edit films and used a version that it received.
Use of footage from Lac-Mégantic rail disaster In late 2018, Netflix faced criticism for its use of stock footage from the 2013 Lac-Mégantic rail disaster in multiple original productions, including the series Travelers, and the film Bird Box. In March 2019, the footage was replaced in both works.
Content critical of the Saudi Arabian government In January 2019, Netflix censored an episode of Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj in Saudi Arabia after requests by the Communications and Information Technology Commission, citing material critical of the Saudi government (such as Mohammed bin Salman and the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen).
Partnership with Liu Cixin Netflix's partnership with Liu Cixin, including inviting Liu to join as a consulting producer for a show based on his The Three-Body Problem, raised questions from U.S. politicians. Citing an interview by The New Yorker in which Liu expressed support for Chinese government policies such as the one-child policy and the Xinjiang internment camps, five U.S. senators wrote a letter to Netflix asking whether it was aware of Liu's remarks and demanding a justification for proceeding with the adaptation of Liu's work. Netflix responded that Liu was not the creator of the show, and that Liu's comments "are not reflective of the views of Netflix or of the show's creators, nor are they part of the plot or themes of the show". The letter points to the challenge of whether the U.S. entertainment industry can work with creators in China and tell their stories without accidentally promoting China's propaganda or becoming complicit in human rights abuses.
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