Streaming platforms like Netflix have rapidly replaced traditional television and movie distribution, placing unprecedented influence in the hands of a few tech-driven companies. For parents, that shift has created new challenges, particularly as children increasingly consume content through tablets, phones and smart TVs with minimal supervision. What once felt like safe, family-friendly programming is no longer guaranteed, and critics warn that parents often have little visibility into the messages shaping their children’s worldview.
Those concerns were front and center in a recent CBN News video featuring Tré Goins-Phillips and Billy Hallowell, who analyzed new research from Concerned Women for America examining children’s programming on Netflix. The report reviewed 326 series rated TV-G, TV-Y and TV-Y7 and found that 41% included LGBTQ characters, themes or messaging. Even more concerning, 21% of TV-Y-rated content, typically geared toward preschool-aged children, contained similar material.
“I think parents have made it very, very clear on these issues where they stand,” Hallowell said. “The challenge that we have is that a lot of people put their kids in front of a tablet, a phone or their TV, and they go and do work. They do the things they have to do because people are busy and they don’t realize maybe that this is what is going on.”
Numbers raise concern beyond representation
Hallowell said the scale of the findings goes far beyond what could reasonably be considered representation, even by secular standards.
“If these numbers are true and accurate based on what this study is purporting, you have a situation where even if your goal is to say, ‘Oh, we’re trying to reflect the population,’ 41% is a percentage so high that it goes leaps and bounds beyond what you would even do if you felt that that was the right thing to do,” he said.
From a Christian worldview, Hallowell described the findings as troubling for children still forming their understanding of the world. “I don’t want to put children in front of something that’s going to add to any confusion in their lives that’s going to indoctrinate them in any way towards something that would be negative for them or counter a biblical worldview,” he said.
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Ratings system criticized as misleading
Goins-Phillips pointed to what he described as a broken ratings system as a major part of the problem. Penny Nance, president of Concerned Women for America, has argued that the system “doesn’t work” because networks and streaming platforms effectively rate their own content.
According to Goins-Phillips, Nance characterized the process as insidious, saying companies are “couching all of this content in these shows and then they’re giving it a TV-Y rating or a TV-Y7 rating because it is predominantly geared toward kids,” allowing controversial material to be slipped into programming parents assume is safe.
Netflix acknowledges the trend
The discussion also highlighted Netflix’s own statements about its content strategy. In 2023, the company publicly described the year as a standout, noting that more than half of its new shows featured LGBTQ characters. About 60% of its new children’s content at the time also included LGBTQ themes or characters.
For Hallowell, that acknowledgment underscored that the issue is intentional. “This is not a bug in the system, it is part of the system,” he said, adding that Hollywood and media companies often operate within ideological silos disconnected from the broader public.
“People are saying, ‘No, no, no. We don’t like this. We don’t want to see this. We actually don’t want this in kids content,’” he said.
A growing issue parents cannot ignore
Goins-Phillips framed the trend as more than a cultural or political issue, characterizing it as spiritual. Citing Isaiah 42:6-7, he said the passage illustrates how confusion and darkness take hold, particularly among children. “I think it shows that Satan is working as hard as he can to confuse people and to keep them in darkness, to keep them in bondage,” he said.
Hallowell concluded by urging Christians to respond not only with concern but with prayer and engagement. “We’ve done a lot of complaining and rightfully so about Hollywood and media and universities and education and all these things,” he said. “Are we actually praying?”
As streaming platforms continue to dominate entertainment and shape young audiences, the concerns raised by CBN News suggest the issue is not fading but expanding. With children spending more time in front of screens, parents face increasing pressure to actively monitor what their children watch, ensuring they are not being raised on messages rooted in confusion and deception.
James Lasher, a seasoned writer and editor at Charisma Media, combines faith and storytelling with a background in journalism from Otterbein University and ministry experience in Guatemala and the LA Dream Center. A Marine Corps and Air Force veteran, he is the author of The Revelation of Jesus: A Common Man’s Commentary and a contributor to Charisma magazine.
