Max ‘Kids & Family’ Section in Non-Restricted Profiles Includes Content With Nudity, Profanity, and Violence
While the brains at Warner Bros. Discovery were hard at work creating Max, it seems they took an unfortunate shortcut while slapping together their “Kids & Family” section. A quick glance through the titles shows your kids are in for a shock if you let them choose from the list on your profile.
The first title to jump out is “Doc Hollywood,” a mostly benign 1991 comedy with Michael J. Fox. But shortly after our hero finds himself stranded in the middle of nowhere, he encounters a woman emerging topless from a lake.
Clearly, the folks making the “Kids & Family” section saw the PG-13 rating and figured that was fair game. And, perhaps, your family has no hang-ups about the female form. But in an era when people are shooting beer cans with assault rifles because of something they saw online, this seems like a lapse in judgment.
If you exit out of “Doc Hollywood,” you may scroll to something that appears safe, like the 2022 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. As you cuddle with your kids, you’ll hear Eminem perform “Rap God,” where he drops lyrics like, “I got your mom deep-throatin’.” The rest of the ceremony includes a barrage of four-letter words.
Perhaps you’ll pivot to the acclaimed documentary “Hoop Dreams,” which features teen pregnancy and drug use.
Maybe your kids will appreciate Meryl Streep’s performance as Margaret Thatcher in “The Iron Lady.” Or maybe they’ll enjoy Aaron Sorkin’s dialogue from “The West Wing.” Of course, every kid loves watching and rewatching “Malcolm X.” All of these are in the Kids & Family section.
Related: How to Set Up a Content-Restricted Kids Profile on Max
There’s nothing wrong with any of these titles, of course. But for parents trusting the curation of a major media company, this is bound to be an eye-opener. While platforms like Disney+ offer a mostly set-it-and-forget-it option for parents, the Max “Kids & Family” section is anything but. Why is Max suggesting family viewing of “Mortal Kombat” or James Bond flicks like “Quantum of Solace” or “Casino Royale”? Those titles are best saved for teenagers, at least.
While you can create a children’s profile on Max, one would think a “Kids & Family” section would be a slam-dunk for “safe” viewing, regardless of the profile setting. But as you scroll the category, it’s clear that anything with a PG-13 or a TV-14 rating got dumped in the category, regardless of the content.
Melissa Henson, Vice President of the Parents Television and Media Council, tells The Streamable, “Max needs to immediately remove PG-13 and TV-14 rated content from ‘Kids and Family’ until it can guarantee a safe experience for kids where they won’t stumble onto content with nudity, graphic violence, or explicit language. It also needs to ensure that Kid profiles cannot access PG-13 and TV-14 rated content unless parents opt-in.” The group found that Kid profiles on Max can currently access TV-MA content.
Warner Bros. Discovery tells The Streamable that the titles we discovered were available because they were accessed under an adult profile. But shouldn’t “Kids & Family” always be family-friendly, no matter who’s logged in? Max representatives suggest using Kids profiles with rating settings such as little kids (tv-y), big kids (tv-y7, tvy7-fv), big kids plus (tv-g, g), preteens (tv-pg/pg) or teens (tv-14, pg-13) and a PIN to shield children from content set for older viewers.
But this kind of gaffe appears the work of engineers and not careful curators. The longer David Zaslav’s minions run this library, the more it becomes clear that few of them have actually watched any of it.
When almost every movie is available to stream somewhere, curation becomes more important than ever. But so far, Max’s attempt at curation rivals a bin of assorted discount DVDs at Walmart. Parental discretion is advised.
Max
Max is a subscription video streaming service that gives access to the full HBO library, along with exclusive Max Originals. There are hubs for content from TLC, HGTV, Food Network, Discovery, TCM, Cartoon Network, Travel Channel, ID, and more. Watch hit series like “The Last of Us,” “House of the Dragon,” “Succession,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and more. Thanks to the B/R Sports add-on, users can watch NBA, MLB, NHL, March Madness, and NASCAR events.