The child’s parent had paid to rent Diary of a Wimpy Kid on Prime Video, but soon noticed that the service was mistakenly streaming Love & Other Drugs, a film rated 15 in the UK due to mature themes.
The parent reported the issue to media regulator Ofcom, which later ruled that Amazon had breached its guidelines.
Amazon explained that the problem happened because the company supplying the films had accidentally assigned the same internal code to both titles—codes that are supposed to be unique. The company apologised and confirmed the issue has been fixed.
According to Ofcom’s report, Amazon said the error was corrected within 48 hours, but during that time 122 customers attempted to watch Diary of a Wimpy Kid. The company stated it has updated its internal processes to prevent similar mistakes from happening again.
Ofcom did not issue a fine, but confirmed Amazon had violated its rules.
The regulator’s report explained that the parent had rented the PG-rated movie for their young children, only to realise that a different, age-restricted film started playing. After unsuccessfully contacting the service provider multiple times, they filed the complaint with Ofcom.
Ofcom added that families choosing Diary of a Wimpy Kid would reasonably expect the content to be suitable for children, potentially even without adult supervision.