Ramit Mehrotra, Pune
US streamer giant Netflix is under investigation by country authorities over accusations of violating visas, evading tax and racial discrimination in their local operating units, as per an email sent to a former Netflix executive. The email was written on July 20, by Deepak Yadav from the Foreign Regional Registration Office (FRRO) of the Home Ministry, in Delhi. The email was written to a former Netflix executive, Nandini Mehta, who exited the organization in 2020.
The email mentioned that there is circumstantial evidence and details to the accusations of the company’s moral conduct, tax evasion, and other unethical practices, including the frequent discrimination because of race, throughout their period of conducting business in India.
In response to the email, Mehta said that she is going after Netflix US with a lawsuit, on allegations of wrongful termination, along with gender and racial discrimination. Netflix has outrightly denied any accusations of such kind. She said that the investigation on the aforementioned charges is an accurate decision.
Over the years, Netflix US has featured plenty of Bollywood actors in the production of their local content. It has also, often rubbed off with the Indian citizens over the content being insensitive and disrespectful to the viewers of the country. Recently, the OTT major was forced to plant a disclaimer in the much-debated series about the hijacking of an Indian aeroplane, after facing criticism and uproar from Indian citizens and government officials. The mayhem was regarding Muslim militants being portrayed as Hindus.
While Netflix US has been under the radar for the tax demand by India, the recent allegations of racial discrimination and visa violation did not come to the surface before. The Centre did not reveal which government agency is deployed to look at issues that are talking about the streamer. So far, the FRRO is co-working with the intelligence unit, the domestic intelligence group and the parent agency into visa assent, and permits to visit the “sensitive regions.”
Mehta worked with Netflix in Mumbai and Los Angeles offices from April 2018 to April 2020, according to her LinkedIn profile. In 2021, she took the OTT giant to the Los Angeles Superior Court, in California. The company denied every allegation that was levied and said that Mehta was fired for using her corporate credit card for thousands of dollars for personal expenses.