BEAUMONT, Texas — Netflix and the Tyler County district attorney have reached a temporary agreement, after lawyers for the streaming company went to federal court and asked a judge to stop the case involving child-porn charges from moving forward.
Streaming giant Netflix asked Judge Michael Truncal to stop the Tyler County District Attorney's prosecution of the company on child pornography charges related to its distribution of the French film, "Cuties."
Lawyers from both sides eventually agreed to put the case on hold until June of 2022, according to court records.
Arguments from Netflix and the attorney's officer were heard on Friday. The hearing lasted for three hours.
Netflix was seeking a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction against Tyler County District Attorney Lucas Babin.
The company filed its motion on Thursday in US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
A Tyler County grand jury indicted the company in October 2020 in connection with the release of the controversial film about young girls that drew criticism across social media platforms.
'Cuties' sparked the hashtag #CancelNetflix, and ultimately led to the Tyler County grand jury indictment for "promotion of lewd material depicting a child."
The indictment named Netflix as the sole defendant.
According to Texas penal code, the naming of a business instead of a person could limit punishment options.
Netflix is accused in the indictment of promoting visual material depicting the lewd exhibition of partially clothed children under the age of 18.
The indictment also says the 'film has no serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.'
'Cuties' follows an 11-year-old girl who lives in Paris and rebels against her family to join a group of dancers.
#CancelNetflix started trending as some viewers were outraged over the film's depiction of underage girls.
In a 2020 statement from the district attorney's office, Babin said, "As a district attorney, I have to sift through countless cases and make calls every day on how to keep our communities safe. In our county, it is not uncommon for me to confront cases with underage victims. After hearing about the movie Cuties and watching it, I knew there was probable cause to believe it was criminal."
In September 2020, Senator Ted Cruz called for the Department of Justice to investigate whether Netflix broke any federal laws.
"They are making money by selling the sexual exploitation of young kids and I asked the attorney general to investigate them because federal law makes it a crime, it is a felony to distribute child pornography," Cruz told Fox News.
It's unclear if the film was looked into on a federal level.
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This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.