Netflix Beats Texas in Child Porn Case

Netflix has emerged victorious in its battle over the French film Cuties, after an appeals court blocked a Texas district attorney from pursuing child pornography charges against the streaming giant.

On Monday, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court injunction in a 3-0 ruling that placed the prosecution on hold indefinitely. The ruling brings to an end a more than three-year battle after Tyler County District Attorney Lucas Babin indicted Netflix for "promotion of lewd visual material depicting a child."

Directed by Sundance winner Maïmouna Doucouré, Cuties, which was released in September 2020, follows an 11-year-old Senegalese immigrant named Amy living in Paris who joins an adolescent dance group, The Cuties, in her attempts to determine her identity in her new world. Newsweek has contacted representatives of Netflix and Babin via email on Tuesday for comment.

In a coming-of-age journey of sorts, Amy essentially emulates the sexualized behavior typically portrayed by women in Western societies as a means to fit in. Amy performs dance routines with her peers that imitate the older, sexually uninhibited women they are trying to emulate. While the fully-clothed young actors are shown performing provocative dance moves, there are no sex scenes. As far as nudity, the film includes a brief shot of an adult woman's bare breast.

Cuties sparked outrage on its release, with several critics calling out its sexualization of young girls in various scenes throughout the movie. These include ones in which they copy an older dance group's sexual moves, and another in which one 11-year-old member of the troupe takes photos of her genitals, although no nudity is actually showcased.

Weeks after the film's release, Texas Republican Rep. Matt Schaefer shared the state's indictment on X, formerly Twitter. "Netflix, Inc. indicted by grand jury in Tyler Co., Tx for promoting material in Cuties film which depicts lewd exhibition of pubic area of a clothed or partially clothed child who was younger than 18 yrs of age which appeals to the prurient interest in sex #Cuties #txlege," Schaefer wrote.

Responding to the indictment at the time, a Netflix spokesperson told Newsweek in a statement: "Cuties is a social commentary against the sexualization of young children. This charge is without merit and we stand by the film."

Further hitting back at the indictment, Netflix took the case to federal court, where it was argued that Babin had taken the action in bad faith and had no chance of convicting the streamer.

In February 2022, Babin dropped the "lewd" charge and hit Netflix with four new indictments in which he accused the streamer of the more serious allegation of distributing child pornography.

Netflix's first victory in the battle came in November 2022, when a federal judge said he was "unconvinced that 'Cuties' contains child pornography" and granted its request for an injunction.

Babin, a former actor who played Spider in the 2003 movie School of Rock, took his appeal to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, where the injunction was this week upheld.

At the time of Cuties release, a #CancelNetflix petition was circulated, and dozens of Congressmen—particularly Republican members of the House and Senate—criticized the platform. Thirty-three members of the House signed Representative Jim Banks' letter recommending the department "bring charges against Netflix, Inc. for the distribution of the film Cuties, which contains child pornography."

"Child pornography is any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a minor, and that conduct does not need to specifically depict sexual activity to qualify," the letter continued. "Cuties clearly meets the United States' legal definition of child pornography."

Texas Senator Ted Cruz also called for the Department of Justice's involvement, writing in a letter that Cuties "routinely fetishizes and sexualizes these pre-adolescent girls as they perform dances simulating sexual conduct in revealing clothing including at least one scene with partial child nudity. These scenes in and of themselves are harmful."

"It is likely that the filming of this move created even more explicit and abusive scenes, and that pedophiles... will manipulate and imitate this film in abusive ways," Cruz added.

However, Doucouré, who won the Directing Award when Cuties premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, said that the movie wasn't intended to sexualize young girls but rather serve as "sounding the alarm" on the sexualization of young girls.

"This film tries to show that our children should have the time to be children, and we as adults should protect their innocence and keep them innocent as long as possible," Doucouré told Time magazine ahead of Cuties' Netflix debut.

Following the furor and legal action, Cuties remains available on Netflix.