Republicans attack Netflix ‘woke’ — and ignore YouTube

When Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos walked into the Senate Office Building on Tuesday, he was in for a shock. What started out as a standard antitrust hearing regarding the Warner Bros. merger. It quickly turned into a hearing Performative republican attack About the spread of “woke” ideology on the streaming service. Meanwhile, arguably an even more influential platform has been completely ignored: YouTube.

After questioning Sarandos about the remaining payments, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) launched into a very different line of questions: “Why does so much Netflix content for kids promote transgender ideology?” Hawley asked, making the unsubstantiated claim that “nearly half” of children’s content on the platform contains so-called “transgender ideology.” The statement is similar to the pressure campaign launched by Elon Musk months ago, in which he called X users have to unsubscribe from Netflix For having a “trans-woke agenda”, citing her few shows featuring trans characters – shows that were canceled years ago.

“Our business purpose is to entertain the world,” Sarandos replied. “It’s not about a political agenda.” However, other Republican lawmakers, including Sens. Ashley Moody (R-Fla.) and Eric Schmidt (R-Mo.), continued to bring up a post made by Netflix after the killing of George Floyd, and the French film. Request activation codeany It sparked a right-wing firestorm years ago. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) even asked Sarandos what he thought About Billie Eilish “No one’s illegal on stolen land” comment at the Grammy Awards. It appears they were grasping at straws to support their narrative that Netflix’s acquisition of Warner Bros. It can somehow poison the content content for the viewers.

“My concern is that you don’t share my values ​​or the values ​​of many other American parents, and you want the United States government to allow you to become one of the largest — if not the largest — streaming monopolies in the world,” Hawley said. “I think we should be concerned about the content you’re promoting.”

While it’s true that Netflix will control a significant portion of the streaming market when — And or if – Acquired by Warner Bros. And its streaming service HBO Max, it’s hard to criticize Netflix without mentioning YouTube.

For years, Netflix has been trying to unseat YouTube as the most-watched streaming service. Data from Nielsen says Netflix It accounted for 9 percent of total U.S. TV and streaming viewing in December 2025, while Warner Bros. services accounted for 9 percent of all U.S. streaming and TV viewing. Discovery 1.4 percent. The combination of the two falls short of YouTube, which had a viewership rating of 12.7 percent during that period. “YouTube is no longer just about cat videos,” Sarandos told the subcommittee. “YouTube is TV.”

Unlike Netflix, YouTube is free, has an ever-growing library of user-generated content, and doesn’t require it to spend billions of dollars in production costs and licensing fees. YouTube doesn’t have to worry about maintaining subscribers, as anyone with access to a web browser or phone can open and watch YouTube. The setup provides YouTube with a constant stream of viewers who can engage them with a plethora of content that can be recommended for viewing next.

But not all YouTube creators strive for quality. like My colleague Miya Sato wroteYouTube is home to content creators trying to feed an algorithm that promotes inflammatory content and attempts to attract viewers, as well as a host of videos that may be… Less than ideal For children.

Like it or not, YouTube is the dominant streaming site, with an endless number of potentially offensive agendas for almost anyone. But for some reason, they are not the target of this culture war. If these lawmakers actually care about what their kids watch, maybe they’ll start looking more closely at how YouTube prioritizes content. Or, if they don’t like the shows and movies on Netflix, they can do what Sarandos suggested during the hearing: Unsubscribe.