Black Mirror Sparks Alarm Over Netflix's Terms And Conditions

The suspense series' latest season has users of the streaming service thinking twice.
Annie Murphy in Black Mirror: Joan Is Awful
Annie Murphy in Black Mirror: Joan Is Awful
Courtesy of Nick Wall/Netflix

An episode from the new season of Black Mirror hit so close to home for many Netflix users that it sent them anxiously scrambling to check the streamer’s terms and conditions.

The first episode of the sixth season, which began streaming last month, called Joan Is Awful, follows an executive named Joan (played by Annie Murphy) who becomes the real-life subject of an artificial intelligence and computer-generated drama about her life on a fictional Netflix-esque streaming service called Streamberry.

All of this happens without her consent, after she unwittingly glosses over the terms and conditions of the online service without really reading them.

When the eerie episode debuted, slews of curious Netflix users couldn’t help but hit the internet to search for the streamer’s terms and conditions in an attempt to pinpoint any similarities lurking in the fine print.

Everyone running to read netflix's terms and conditions after watching the first episode of black mirror... pic.twitter.com/k1ZGSofycO

— Sad Squidward (@stupidspatula) June 20, 2023

Me reading netflix terms and conditions so that i don't end up as joan #JoanIsAwful #BlackMirror pic.twitter.com/4AtWjjxdXF

— Coldblooded (@fuckedupf0rever) June 20, 2023

not me reading netflix’s new terms and conditions because of that black mirror episode 😭😭😭

— ✨☯️✨ (@aquariesstar) June 21, 2023

Joan Is Awful is one of the best things Netflix has on it!

Also, Black Mirror is single handedly the reason we will be reading the terms and conditions from now on.

— Robert Tucker LCSW (@robert_d_tucker) June 24, 2023

Me reading the terms and conditions of Netflix after Joan is Awful #blackmirror pic.twitter.com/pLLLadnboK

— 𝔞𝔩𝔩𝔦𝔢⁷ (@alliesonoh) June 15, 2023

Everyone analyzing the Netflix terms & conditions after watching Black Mirror Season 6 pic.twitter.com/O3StzlffMA

— litigation_god (@GodLitigation) June 19, 2023

The online search also skyrocketed as 596% more people searched for “Netflix terms and conditions” on Google just three days after the season dropped on the streaming platform, according to Google Trends per Casino Alpha.

But feel free to exhale (for now) as Netflix’s real-life terms of use don’t presently include any mention of ripping off anyone’s life and turning it into a hit series.

Black Mirror, a techno-paranoia anthology series that features themes about humanity’s connection with technology, initially came out in 2011 and has since become one of the streamer’s most popular shows.

Season 6 of Black Mirror is now streaming on Netflix.

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