Netflix's Attempt to Acquire Warner Bros. Sparks Republican Backlash Over "Woke" Content
The Senate hearing on Netflix's proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. turned into a culture war when lawmakers started questioning the streaming service's content, specifically targeting its promotion of transgender ideology.
When Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix, testified before the subcommittee, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) suddenly shifted his focus from antitrust concerns to asking why so much of Netflix's children's content promotes "transgender ideology." Hawley claimed that almost half of the platform's kids' content contains such ideologies, which is a misleading and unsubstantiated claim.
Sarandos responded by saying, "Our business intent is to entertain the world. It is not to have a political agenda." However, other Republican lawmakers continued to pile on, bringing up unrelated topics such as the French film Cuties, which sparked a right-wing firestorm years ago.
A more telling oversight was that YouTube, another major streaming service, was completely ignored in the hearing. Despite its own issues with content and creators, particularly those promoting inflammatory or child-oriented material, lawmakers chose to focus solely on Netflix's supposed "woke" agenda.
The numbers speak for themselves: YouTube holds a 12.7 percent share of viewership in the US, while Netflix makes up only 9 percent, largely due to its lack of free, user-generated content and its high production costs. On the other hand, YouTube can recommend content based on an endless supply of user preferences, making it harder for creators to reach their target audience.
It's puzzling that lawmakers would focus solely on Netflix when YouTube has a similar business model but with more flaws in terms of content prioritization. Maybe if they actually cared about what their kids were watching, they'd start looking closer at how YouTube handles content creation and promotion.
The most likely explanation for this discrepancy is that lawmakers simply don't want to tackle the actual issues surrounding streaming services. Instead, they can conveniently target Netflix as a scapegoat for perceived problems, while ignoring the more significant issues with YouTube.
The Senate hearing on Netflix's proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. turned into a culture war when lawmakers started questioning the streaming service's content, specifically targeting its promotion of transgender ideology.
When Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix, testified before the subcommittee, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) suddenly shifted his focus from antitrust concerns to asking why so much of Netflix's children's content promotes "transgender ideology." Hawley claimed that almost half of the platform's kids' content contains such ideologies, which is a misleading and unsubstantiated claim.
Sarandos responded by saying, "Our business intent is to entertain the world. It is not to have a political agenda." However, other Republican lawmakers continued to pile on, bringing up unrelated topics such as the French film Cuties, which sparked a right-wing firestorm years ago.
A more telling oversight was that YouTube, another major streaming service, was completely ignored in the hearing. Despite its own issues with content and creators, particularly those promoting inflammatory or child-oriented material, lawmakers chose to focus solely on Netflix's supposed "woke" agenda.
The numbers speak for themselves: YouTube holds a 12.7 percent share of viewership in the US, while Netflix makes up only 9 percent, largely due to its lack of free, user-generated content and its high production costs. On the other hand, YouTube can recommend content based on an endless supply of user preferences, making it harder for creators to reach their target audience.
It's puzzling that lawmakers would focus solely on Netflix when YouTube has a similar business model but with more flaws in terms of content prioritization. Maybe if they actually cared about what their kids were watching, they'd start looking closer at how YouTube handles content creation and promotion.
The most likely explanation for this discrepancy is that lawmakers simply don't want to tackle the actual issues surrounding streaming services. Instead, they can conveniently target Netflix as a scapegoat for perceived problems, while ignoring the more significant issues with YouTube.
and actually look at the numbers? i mean, youtube's got 12.7% share of viewership in the us, but it's all about recommendation algorithms and user preferences... meanwhile netflix is struggling to keep up with its own kids' content 
. plus have you seen how much money youtube makes off ads? it's like they're not even trying to be 'woke' or whatever 
. and can we please stop making assumptions about what people are watching just because it's on a certain platform? it's like, maybe our kids aren't as gullible as you think 
.
I just watched the Senate hearing on Netflix's proposed acquisition of Warner Bros., and it was wild 
. The Republicans were all about attacking Netflix's content, specifically the LGBTQ+ stuff, but what about YouTube? 
. It's like they want to focus on a straw man 
while ignoring the real problem 
. And have you seen Netflix's numbers? 9% of viewership in the US and still making bank 
. YouTube, on the other hand, has 12.7% but is basically free 
. Can we just have a rational conversation about this? 
I think it's wild how one-sided the hearing was! Like, come on, guys, focus on what really matters – making sure our kids are safe online 
. The fact that lawmakers are so quick to bash Netflix for promoting transgender ideology is just a red herring 
I mean, where's the discussion about the actual problems with streaming services? The lack of regulation? The impact on creators? Noooo, let's just attack Netflix and call it a day 
. It's just not fair to the people who are actually working hard to make quality content for our kids 
.
I mean, Netflix is getting roasted for something that's not even that big of a deal... meanwhile, YouTube has its own issues and gets a free pass 
youtube is outta control with all the hate speech and kids content, but they just ignore it lol 
its so unfair that lawmakers are picking on netflix when youtube has its own set of issues 
. If lawmakers really care about kids' content, shouldn't they be looking into how both Netflix and YouTube handle it? It's not like one platform is way better than the other - in fact, the numbers say Netflix makes up 9% of viewership while YouTube gets 12.7%! 
That's a pretty big difference.
They're scared of tackling the bigger issues with content creation and promotion. And by targeting Netflix, they can pretend like they're doing something about it, when really they're just sweeping their own problems under the rug. 
