Kenya Film and Classification Board (KFCB) has cautioned against the viewership of Netflix' biggest series launch ever Squid Game by children under the age of 18.
KFCB acting Chief Executive Officer(CEO), Christopher Wambua, says the series released in September 2021 has some horrible and violent scenes that have now become a part of our day to day lives, nabbing representation in things like TikTok trends, Instagram and Youtube.
This has consequently allowed children to access and replicate the mature-rated show’s violent games warranting a warning by the board.
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‘This is regrettable as it is also a contravention of the intellectual rights of the owners of the content. As a result, the risk of children now imitating or re-enacting scenes in the game from the series has become real,’ Wambua says.
Wambua says children might be tricked to copy and applying the tactics from the Korean series leading to massive harm.
‘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.
The board is now advising parents and guardians against letting children watch the show and have asked them to ensure they closely monitor the online content consumed by their children.
KFCB has also written to Google to ensure the ‘Squid Game’ scenes are unavailable online and are strictly availed to adults.
