Rishi Sunak to take on Netflix amid Harry & Meghan accuracy row

Rishi Sunak will give the broadcasting watchdog the power to take on Netflix for the first time, amid a row about accuracy in the Harry & Meghan documentary.

Ministers are planning to pass a new law that would bring all streaming giants under the jurisdiction of Ofcom and hand it the power to impose fines of up to £250,000.

Viewers would also be able to complain to Ofcom about shows on Netflix, Amazon Prime and other services and see them investigated for breaches of a new code of conduct.

The plans are expected as soon as next year and will form part of the Government's Media Bill, which will also promote "distinctively British content", The Telegraph understands.

It comes after Netflix was criticised for misleading viewers in Harry & Meghan, a six-part documentary series fronted by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and released over the last fortnight.

A photograph used in the documentary’s trailer, purportedly showing how the couple were hounded by the press, later transpired to have been taken at a Harry Potter film premiere five years before the couple met.

The trailer also included footage that appeared to show photographers scrambling for a shot of the Duke and Duchess as they left a radio station studio in 2018, but in reality depicted paparazzi chasing Katie Price, a former glamour model, outside a court where she had been sentenced for drink driving.

The documentary itself contained a recording of a speech by Queen Elizabeth II, delivered on her 21st birthday in South Africa, that had been edited in an apparent attempt to emphasise a quote about her love of the British Empire.

Royal sources complained that viewers learning about the late Queen and the Commonwealth for the first time from the documentary would be presented with an “appalling and factually inaccurate” account.

Under the broadcasting rules outlined in Ofcom’s code, “factual programmes or items or portrayals of factual matters must not materially mislead the audience”.

On the day Harry & Meghan was released, the regulator was forced to issue a statement reminding the public that while it was “sometimes contacted by people who’ve seen something they found harmful or offensive on a streaming service like Netflix”, it was powerless to take any action.

Michelle Donelan, the Culture Secretary, is hoping to bring forward the Media Bill next year to establish a legal basis for Ofcom to regulate streaming services that are not based in the UK, including Netflix and Apple TV+, which are based in the Netherlands and Ireland respectively.

The watchdog will be charged with drawing up a new “Video-on-demand Code” that is expected to be similar to the rules laid down for the BBC and other terrestrial broadcasters.

It will also be handed new enforcement powers that are likely to mirror those it holds to rap broadcasters for breaches of the code - which include fines of up to £250,000 and orders to comply.

The other major policy planned for the Bill - allowing the Government to sell off Channel 4 - is understood to have been scrapped.

On Saturday, Tory MPs welcomed the Government’s plans and said they could put a stop to misleading statements from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in future, including their use of stock footage.

Bob Seely, a Conservative MP who is planning a parliamentary bill to strip the couple of their titles, said new rules would mean the couple would “not be allowed to get away with some of the obvious misrepresentation in the use of images, claiming the images were representing one thing when in fact they were entirely unconnected with Meghan and Harry”.

“I do think on principle that Netflix and other video streaming services should have the same ethical standards as other broadcasters like the BBC,” he said.

Tim Loughton MP, who has criticised the Duke and Duchess for their broadsides against other members of the Royal family, said the documentary had used “highly questionable” editing and should have been regulated in the same way as content from a broadcaster like the BBC, ITV or Channel 4.

“They should be subject to the same criteria,” he said. “That’s the problem with anything that’s now streamed or anything that’s now available on the internet.

“They’re not subject to the same publishing criteria as if it were a hard copy or in the terrestrial media.”

Plans to regulate streaming services were first drawn up in a white paper under Nadine Dorries, the former culture secretary, and had been scheduled to be debated by MPs during the current parliamentary session.

It is understood that Downing Street has accepted proposals from Ms Donelan to carry the plans over under Mr Sunak’s premiership, but sources suggested it was possible they could be delayed until 2024 amid a busy timetable for new legislation.

A Netflix spokesman said the company was "supportive of the measures to update the legal framework and bring our service in the UK under Ofcom's jurisdiction" but did not comment on claims of inaccuracy directed at the Harry & Meghan documentary.

Ofcom was contacted for comment.