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https://www.techdirt.com/2026/02/05/josh-hawley-trots-out-trans-panic-attacks-on-netflix-to-help-larry-ellison-buy-cnn-hbo/>
"We’ve been talking about how the Trump GOP is launching an all out attack on
Netflix’s proposed merger with Warner Brothers. Not because they care about
antitrust or corporate power, but because they really want Trump-allied
billionaire Larry Ellison to buy Warner Brothers, CNN, and HBO. It’s part of
their unsubtle plan to acquire what’s left of U.S. media and turn it it to MAGA
state television (see: Hungary).
Of course, if you’re a corrupt, Trump-bootheel-licking, GOP lawmaker looking to
turn U.S. media (or what’s left of it) into a Trump-friendly agitprop machine,
you can’t just openly admit this. So the GOP have had to dress up their attacks
on Netflix as some sort of principled stand against media consolidation,
“leftist propaganda,” child indoctrination, and “wokeism.” Real pudding-brained
cult shit.
Enter ever-the-opportunist Josh Hawley, who “grilled” Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos
this week in Senate hearings, leveraging anti-trans hysteria and fear-mongering
to pretend Netflix is somehow radically leftist:
“Why is it that so much of Netflix content for children promotes a
transgender ideology?” Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley asked Sarandos on Tuesday.
“Almost half of your content for children—I’m talking about minor children
now, I’m not talking about teenagers, minor children—promotes a transgender
ideology agenda.”
If you’re a grown adult, you probably realize Netflix’s primary interest is in
making money by producing whatever gets people’s attention. That has ranged
from military dramas featuring (gasp) homosexuals (something you’ll recall made
the Trump Pentagon cry), to hack comedians who like to punch down against trans
folks. If Netflix has an ideology, it’s opportunism.
Hawley’s (false) claim that half of Netflix’s children’s programming supports a
“trans agenda” was simply made up, and originates in a Heritage Foundation
“study” making the rounds in DC designed to demonize Netflix. Allowing, as we
noted above, Larry Ellison to swoop in, dominate U.S. media, and do all of the
ideological bullshit the GOP is pretending to be worried about. Just like we
saw with the Trump GOP’s hijacking of TikTok by weird right wing zealots like
Larry Ellison and Marc Andreessen.
As I’ve noted previously, ideally you’d block all additional media
consolidation, since these megadeals are consistently terrible for labor,
consumers, and product quality. But that’s not happening under a Trump
administration that has lobotomized all key regulators. So ideally, while not
great, Netflix acquiring Warner Brothers is the best of a bunch of bad options,
and probably the route Dem lawmakers and activists should be backing.
Such are the strange days we live in."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
