Netflix Is the Most Intoxicating Portal to Planet Earth; The New York Times, February 22, 2019

Farhad Manjoo, The New York Times;

Netflix Is the Most Intoxicating Portal to Planet Earth

Instead of trying to sell American ideas to a foreign audience, it’s aiming to sell international ideas to a global audience.

"Netflix’s push abroad has not been without incident. Late last year, the company earned international condemnation for pulling an episode of “Patriot Act With Hasan Minhaj” from its service in Saudi Arabia. The comedian had criticized the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, after the C.I.A.’s conclusion that the prince had ordered the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the dissident Saudi journalist.

Netflix argued that it had no choice but to obey the Saudi legal authority, which said the episode violated a statute, if it wanted to continue operating in that country. The company’s executives suggested that bringing the Saudis the rest of Netflix — every other episode of “Patriot Act” or shows that explore issues of gender and sexuality, like “Big Mouth” and “Sex Education” and “Nanette” — was better than having the entire service go dark in that country."