When Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix, entered the Senate office building on Tuesday, he likely anticipated a routine antitrust hearing concerning the Warner Bros. merger. However, the proceedings quickly took an unexpected turn as Republican senators shifted focus towards what they described as a proliferation of “woke” content on Netflix. Meanwhile, a potentially more influential platform, YouTube, was left out of the conversation.

Initially, Sarandos faced questions about residual payments, but the inquiry soon veered off course. Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri raised concerns about Netflix’s content aimed at children, accusing the streaming service of promoting transgender ideology. Without evidence, he claimed that nearly half of Netflix’s children’s programming contained such themes. This line of questioning echoed a previous call to action by Elon Musk, who urged users to cancel their Netflix subscriptions due to what he termed a “transgender woke agenda,” despite the fact that the shows in question had been canceled years prior.

Sarandos responded firmly, stating, “Our business intent is to entertain the world. It is not to have a political agenda.” Nonetheless, the Republican lawmakers, including Senators Ashley Moody from Florida and Eric Schmitt from Missouri, continued to press the issue. They referenced a Netflix post following George Floyd’s murder and criticized the French film Cuties, which had sparked controversy among right-wing groups. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas even broached a comment made by Billie Eilish at the Grammys, seemingly reaching for any evidence to bolster their argument against Netflix’s potential acquisition.

Senator Hawley expressed his concerns, saying, “My concern is that you don’t share my values or those 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 monopolist in the world. I think we ought to be concerned about what content you’re promoting.”

As Netflix stands on the cusp of possibly acquiring Warner Bros. and its streaming service HBO Max, it does raise questions about market dominance. However, any critique of Netflix’s influence in the streaming world seems incomplete without addressing YouTube’s role. The platform, once synonymous with cat videos, has transformed into a major player in the television landscape.

For years now, Netflix has been trying to topple YouTube as the most-watched streaming service. Data from Nielsen says Netflix made up 9 percent of total TV and streaming viewing in the US in December 2025, while Warner Bros. Discovery’s services made up 1.4 percent. Combining the two doesn’t even stack up to YouTube, which held a 12.7 percent share of viewership during that time. “YouTube is not just cat videos anymore,” Sarandos told the subcommittee. “YouTube is TV.”

Unlike Netflix, YouTube is free and has an ever-growing library of user-created content that 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 up and watch YouTube. The setup brings YouTube a constant stream of viewers that it can rope in with a slew of content it can recommend to watch next.

But not all creators on YouTube are striving for quality. As my colleague Mia Sato wrote, YouTube is home to creators who try to feed an algorithm that boosts inflammatory content and attempts to hook viewers, in addition to an array of videos that may be less than ideal for kids.

Like it or not, YouTube is the dominant streamer, with an endless supply of potentially offensive agendas for just about anyone. But for some reason, it’s not the target of this culture war. If these lawmakers actually cared about what their kids are watching, maybe they’d start looking more closely at how YouTube prioritizes content. Or, if they don’t like the shows and movies on Netflix, they could just do what Sarandos suggested during the hearing: unsubscribe.