Netflix is a monopoly. The company today plays a colossal role in the subscription video streaming market, with more than 325 million global subscribers and a 33% market share. Its extensive content library, vertically integrated production and distribution model, and access to granular user data further entrench its behemoth status. When one media company has gatekeeping power over content distribution at scale, it can decide which voices are heard, which stories are told, and on what terms creators participate in the market.
Last year, Netflix spent months trying to convince regulators and lawmakers that it wasn’t a monopoly as it sought approval for a $72 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. Netflix was ultimately outbid by Paramount Skydance, but its merger play still exposed the company’s abuse of its market power. Netflix has jacked up subscription prices twice in just over a year–despite collecting a $2.8 billion breakup fee for the failed merger. Since 2020, the monthly Netflix bill for the standard package has jumped 29%, far outpacing inflation. The fact that Netflix can raise prices by so much without losing subscribers shows how powerful it is in the streaming market. The company boasts that it has more “pricing power” and lower customer churn than its peers. Netflix could have used its merger windfall to improve operations or quality, or delay price hikes for consumers. Instead, it spent $1.3 billion in stock buybacks in Q1 2026.
Netflix’s market power is further enforced by its granular data collection from users. By limiting transparency into viewership and performance metrics, the corporation is uniquely positioned to set compensation terms and shape content production decisions in ways that are difficult for creators and competitors to independently evaluate or contest.
In 2025, Netflix spent a record amount on federal lobbying over competition issues as it prepared to push through the Warner Bros. deal. The company hired lobbyists including Trump campaign fundraiser Brian Ballard, Trump administration veteran Clete Williams and former senior counsel at the DOJ Antitrust Division Perry Appelbaum.
It’s time for Netflix to face scrutiny for its massive scale. The Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice Antitrust Division must investigate whether Netflix is leveraging its position in the subscription video streaming market in ways that harm competition, creators, and consumers.
We’re calling on the FTC and DOJ to:
- Assess whether Netflix possesses monopolistic power in relevant video distribution markets, including any appropriately defined submarkets, such as subscription streaming;
- Examine whether Netflix has engaged in conduct that may unfairly harm competition, including in how it exercises its leverage over content creators and suppliers;
- Evaluate whether recent pricing trends reflect fair competitive dynamics or the unfair exercise of monopolistic power; and
- Consider whether any enforcement action under the Sherman Act, Clayton Act, or Federal Trade Commission Act is warranted to protect consumers and competition.
Learn more:
Read the open letter here
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