Author: openjargon

• 2025's words of the year reflect a generation frustrated with job prospects, AI, and online culture.
• Platforms have chosen terms like "fatigue," "AI slop," and "rage bait."
• For the first time, Dictionary.com chose a word that is also a number as its Word of the Year.

Everyone is over 2025.

Various platforms and dictionaries released their word of the year in December, and the choices widely reflect a sense of inescapable uncertainty, exhaustion, and skepticism of the tech world.

"There's no denying that 2025 has been a year defined by questions around who we truly are," said Casper Grathwohl, President of Oxford Languages, "both online and offline."

From early-career job seekers stuck in unemployment, to low-quality social media content generated by AI, and workers struggling to keep up with AI, here is a list of words that dictionaries and culture-watchers say encapsulate the zeitgeist of 2025.

Merriam-Webster: 'Slop'

The American dictionary publisher chose the four-letter word for a year when AI content oozed into every corner of the internet.

The dictionary defines "slop" as "digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence," such as "absurd videos, off-kilter advertising images, cheesy propaganda, fake news that looks pretty real, junky AI-written books, 'workslop' reports that waste coworkers' time."

According to Merrian-Webster, "slop" originally referred to "soft mud" in the 1700s, and later evolved to mean "a product of little or no value" over the next hundred years.

The word was aptly chosen for a year where musicians and artists are protesting the proliferation of AI-generated tracks mimicking their voices and styles, and surveys show that readers are skeptical of AI-generated content in their news diet.

"The word sends a little message to AI," said the dictionary. "When it comes to replacing human creativity, sometimes you don't seem too superintelligent."

Glassdoor: 'Fatigue'

Workers are tired, according to job search platform Glassdoor.

The site that allows workers to post reviews of companies they have worked for or interviewed with coined "fatigue" as its word of the year, after the term saw a 41% spike in mentions across the platform in 2025.

Glassdoor cited how job seekers are growing increasingly frustrated with endless applications that go nowhere, and how emotionally exhausted workers are with the rapid rise of AI.

When Glassdoor asked professionals if they felt like the news cycle was draining their energy at work, 78% said yes. On top of that, job seekers are becoming increasingly frustrated as more "job huggers" hold onto their positions in a low-hire, low-fire job market.

In an ironic admonition, Glassdoor wrote, "Yes, things could be better, but they could also be much worse."

Collins Dictionary: 'Vibe coding'

"Vibe coding," a term coined by Andrej Karpathy, a prominent AI researcher, refers to the use of natural language prompts to instruct AI to write computer code instead of writing it from scratch.

Collins said that its word of the year and its contenders mark a "further shift towards a tech-dominated world."

According to OpenAI's annual enterprise report, code-related queries increased 36% for workers whose primary job is not engineering. Companies like Anthropic also said that its in-house AI, Claude, is now writing 90% of code for its teams.

Oxford Dictionary: 'Rage bait'

If you ever feel so angry over online content that you feel compelled to repost it and give the comment section a piece of your mindyou may have encountered the Oxford Dictionary's word of the year: "rage bait."

Oxford defined the word as "online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive, typically posted in order to increase traffic to or engagement."

According to Oxford's data, the use of "rage bait" has tripled in 2025 compared to the year before, hinting at "a deeper shift in how we talk about attention — both how it is given and how it is sought after."

Cambridge Dictionary: 'Parasocial'

Many people seem unable to quit social media. And that could be largely due to "parasocial" relationships, which Cambridge Dictionary coined as word of the year.

The term refers to one-sided "relationships that people form with celebrities, influencers, and AI chatbots," Cambridge Dictionary wrote.

For example, how fans often feel a deep connection to Taylor Swift's lyrics about heartbreak, to the spontaneity of podcast hosts, and the "emotionally meaningful" and "in some cases troubling" connection between users and AI chatbots.

Business Insider has documented various instances where people become emotionally dependent on an AI model or form long-term relationships with AI girlfriends. The release of AI companions by platforms like Grock, including a flirtatious anime girl, can increase the likelihood of such parasocial relationships.

Macquarie Dictionary: 'AI slop'

The Australian English dictionary chose "AI slop" as its top word of the year, highlighting concern over "low-quality content created by generative AI, often containing errors, and not requested by the user."

The rise of AI-generated content has contributed to longer and more annoying memos at work that don't actually push productivity forward, as well as tricked some news platforms into publishing inaccurate information, such as when the Chicago Sun-Times published an AI-generated summer reading list that matched real authors with books they never wrote.

"While in recent years we've learnt to become search engineers to find meaningful information, we now need to become prompt engineers in order to wade through the AI slop," said the Macquarie Dictionary Committee.

Dictionary.com: '67'

Dictionary.com chose a numeral — the number 67 — as its word of the year, for the first time since the site started naming word of the year in 2010.

The word, pronounced "six seven" instead of "sixty-seven," experienced a dramatic rise in search volume since the summer of 2025 and increased more than sixfold since June, said Dictionary.com.

Described as "meaningless, ubiquitous, and nonsensical," Dictionary.com said it thinks this word means "so-so" or "maybe this, maybe that," which makes some sense if you're rating something a six or seven out of 10.

"If you're a member of Gen Alpha," Dictionary.com added, "maybe you're smirking at the thought of adults once again struggling to make sense of your notoriously slippery slang."

• Disney's musical "Newsies" was released 33 years ago, and it was a box-office flop.
• Years later, the movie is beloved by fans, and it's even been adapted into a Broadway musical.
• Christian Bale starred in the film as Jack Kelly, and he's now an A-list celebrity.

In 1992, Disney's movie musical "Newsies" made its debut — and it's since become quite a treasure.

Loosely based on the true story of the 1899 newsboys' strike in New York City, the film features a crew of so-called newsies as they sing their way through oppression and fight for a fairer working system.

"Newsies" was a box-office flop when it was first released, reportedly making less than $3 million at the box office, even though it cost over $15 million to make.

But in the years since, "Newsies" has built up a passionate group of "fansies" and has been adapted into a majorly successful Broadway musical. It has also helped launch the careers of a few young stars.

Here's what the cast of "Newsies" is up to 33 years later:

"Newsies" was Christian Bale's first Disney movie.

In 1992, Christian Bale was 17 years old and had a few acting credits to his name until "Newsies" came along.

Bale portrayed the film's lead Jack Kelly, one of the ringleaders behind the newsies' strike.

Bale gave quite a performance singing, dancing, and acting as a rough, 19th-century Manhattan teen fending for himself and his chosen family.

Bale was the breakout star of the "Newsies" cast.

"Newsies" wouldn't be Bale's last Disney movie.

He'd later star in the early-1990s Disney flop "Swing Kids," voice Thomas in 1995's "Pocahontas," and voice Bagheera in 2019's "Mowgli."

Of course, the actor is perhaps most well known for his roles in "American Psycho," "Ford v Ferrari," and the "Batman" franchise — though he has starred in several other major movies since his "Newsies" days. 

David Moscow was a star before "Newsies."

David Moscow and Bale had undeniable synergy while starring alongside each other in "Newsies."

Moscow played David Jacobs, "a mouth with a brain" and a coleader in the fictionalized strike against Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst.

"Newsies" might have been Moscow's first Disney musical, but the young star was no stranger to the big screen, having starred in Tom Hanks' "Big" just a few years prior.

Moscow has continued acting and has since established himself as a producer.

Decades after singing and dancing next to the future star of the "Batman" series, Moscow continues to leave a mark on Hollywood.

He appeared in 2003's "Just Married" with Ashton Kutcher and Brittany Murphy and produced over a dozen movies.

Moscow also appeared in 2017's "This Is Christmas" and "One Last Night" — but he's mostly been focusing on behind-the-scenes work.

"Newsies" was one of Luke Edwards' first major movies.

Starring as David Jacob's younger brother, Les, in the musical, Luke Edwards was no stranger to acting when he landed the role.

Before starring in "Newsies," Edwards had several acting credits to his name, including a role in the cult-favorite '80s comedy "The Wizard."

You might remember Edwards from 2017's "The Super."

Edwards has guest-starred on shows like "Without a Trace" and "True Detective," though you might remember Edwards from "American Pie 2" or even "Jeepers Creepers II."

Edwards has also appeared in "The Super," "Adverse," and "My Friend's Play."  

Max Casella sang and danced his way into people's hearts.

One of the older "Newsies" in the bunch, Max Casella was 24 years old when he officially made his musical debut as Racetrack Higgins.

Aside from having a few TV roles in the 1980s and early 1990s, Casella had not appeared in a major theatrical production prior to this one.

He was, however, most well known as the time for his role as Vinnie Delpino on "Doogie Howser, M.D." 

Casella has continued to act in numerous big projects.

Since "Newsies," Casella has gone on to make an impressive resume for himself.

He's lent his voice to characters in "The Little Mermaid 2," "Dinosaur," and "Courage the Cowardly Dog." He has appeared in over two dozen "Sopranos" episodes, acted in "Leatherheads," and joined "Boardwalk Empire" in 2010.

I recent years, you might have spotted Casella in "Jackie" alongside Natalie Portman, or on episodes of "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" and "Tulsa King."

Gabriel Damon was a teen when "Newsies" debuted.

Although he was only 15 years old when he starred as the spunky Brooklyn newsie Spot Conlon, Gabriel Damon was already quite a seasoned actor with over 30 credits to his name.

Notably, he was the voice of Littlefoot in the fan-favorite animated film, "The Land Before Time."

After "Newsies," Damon stepped away from acting.

Aside from a few appearances on "Baywatch" and a few one-off roles on shows like "ER" and "Sirens," Damon has shied away from the acting industry.

His last noted role was in a short in 2006.

Marty Belafsky's first big movie role was "Newsies."

"Newsies" was Marty Belafsky's first-ever movie role.

In the musical, he appeared as the goofy but lovable Crutchy.  He was only 16 years old when "Newsies" was released.

Belafsky has had a few roles since.

With roles in "Pearl Harbor" and "Men in Black II," Belafsky has been on the big screen a few times since 1992.

His last acting credit was in 2013 for the short "Archie Black." For over a decade, he has worked in a different part of the entertainment industry as a media executive. 

"Newsies" was Arvie Lowe Jr.'s first-ever role.

When he appeared as Boots in the 1992 musical drama, Arvie Lowe Jr. was a 12-year-old actor with no other roles to his name. 

Lowe Jr. appeared on numerous popular TV shows throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.

After "Newsies" wrapped, Lowe Jr. found himself starring on popular 1990s shows like "Sister, Sister," "Moesha," and "Smart Guy."

He even starred on the early aughts Disney Channel show "Lizzie McGuire" alongside Hilary Duff.

Since then, he's had a few minor roles in Hollywood, and he's appeared in a few video shorts and commercials. Lowe Jr. is also a graphic designer. 

After "Newsies" was released, Ele Keats got a lot of heat from fansies.

Ele Keats had a few acting credits under her belt in Hollywood before landing the role of Sarah Jacobs in "Newsies."

She played Jack Kelly's love interest, which led to backlash from fans who were unhappy about her kiss with Bale. Some have even referred to her character as the "Destroyer of Dreams."

Keats has appeared in a few horror films, and she has a jewelry business.

Since starring in "Newsies," Keats has had a number of small roles and has even guest-starred on shows like "CSI," "CSI: NY," and "Cold Case."

In the last few years, she's made a name for herself in the horror-film industry, starring in "Insidious: Chapter 3" and "Ouija: Origin of Evil."

She also owns Ele Keats Jewelry, which has a showroom in Santa Monica. 

Bill Pullman was one of the few adults in "Newsies."

Actor Bill Pullman played one of the few redeeming adult characters "Newsies" had to offer.

Previously known for his work in "Spaceballs," among other films, Pullman starred in the Disney musical as passionate journalist Bryan Denton.

Pullman has had a successful career post-"Newsies."

The same year "Newsies" was released, Pullman was featured in "A League of Their Own."

He has also appeared in "Sleepless in Seattle," "Casper," "Scary Movie 4," and "Torchwood," among many other films.

In recent years, he also starred on the USA show "The Sinner."  

Robert Duvall played a publishing mogul.

Robert Duvall was quite the villain in the musical, where he appeared as publishing mogul Joseph Pulitzer.

Prior to "Newsies," he acted in dozens of works — including "The Godfather" and "The Twilight Zone."

Duvall starred in numerous films after "Newsies."

After "Newsies," Duvall appeared in projects like "The Apostle," "Deep Impact," "Gone in 60 Seconds," and "Kicking and Screaming."

He continues to make a name for himself in Hollywood, and recently appeared in "Widows," "Hustle," and "The Pale Blue Eye."

Correction: December 15, 2025 — An earlier version of this story misstated Luke Edwards' first major role. It was in "The Wizard," not "Newsies."

This story was originally published in August 2018 and most recently updated on December 15, 2025.

• Jeffrey Epstein victims accused Bank of America and BNY Mellon of ignoring red flags.
• A federal judge expressed skepticism about their lawsuits, saying they were full of "rhetoric."
• Rakoff gave the lawyers a chance to revise their lawsuits with details from the discovery process.

A federal judge expressed skepticism about a pair of lawsuits that victims of Jeffrey Epstein had filed against two banks, suggesting he may dismiss them before they have a chance to go to trial.

At the outset of a Monday afternoon hearing in Manhattan federal court, US District Judge Jed Rakoff unfavorably compared the lawsuits against Bank of America and BNY Mellon to two similar lawsuits he had previously overseen, against JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank. JPMorgan agreed to settle the case for $290 million. Deutsche Bank agreed to settle for $75 million.

Rakoff said the language in the lawsuits against Bank of America and BNY Mellon — which were brought by the same attorneys and filed in October — was "frequently conclusory" and appeared to lack sufficient detail to demonstrate what the banks did wrong. He called the lawsuits "a model of high-pitched rhetoric."

"'Knows' without saying by whom is vague. 'Affiliated' without saying what that means is vague," Rakoff told David Boies, an attorney who brought the case. "A lot of that language is in the complaint."

At the end of the hearing, Rakoff gave the lawyers who brought the lawsuits on behalf of Epstein victims — David Boies, Sigrid McCawley, Brad Edwards, and Brittany Henderson — two weeks to revise their cases with more specific details about their allegations.

The judge said they would be permitted to use material they had already gathered as part of the discovery process in the case, but should put a hold on additional depositions and subpoenas until he issued a ruling, which he said could come at the end of January.

The lawsuits allege that Bank of America and BNY Mellon aided in Epstein's sex-trafficking operation by providing him with banking services and then ignoring red flags tied to his transactions.

Epstein, a well-connected financier, killed himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on criminal sex-trafficking charges. One of his associates, Ghislaine Maxwell, is serving a 20-year prison sentence for trafficking girls to him.

Monday's hearing was scheduled for the judge to weigh motions to dismiss the two lawsuits outright.

Charlotte Taylor, an attorney at the law firm Jones Day representing Bank of America, argued the lawsuits consisted of "recycled boilerplate allegations" and that they could not prove the bank provided anything other than "routine banking services" to Epstein and his associates. Felicia Ellsworth, an attorney at WilmerHale, said the plaintiffs couldn't prove anyone at BNY Mellon had the "state of mind" to be found liable.

Boies told Rakoff that the banks should have noticed enough smoke around the transactions from bank accounts belonging to Epstein and his associates to know there was a fire. Aside from Epstein's 2008 criminal conviction in Florida, he had been dogged by civil litigation for years, Boies said.

Rakoff expressed skepticism that the pattern of facts alleged in the lawsuit would be enough.

"Last I checked, that's not enough to survive a motion to dismiss," Rakoff said. "You need to have enough allegations as to specific facts."

Following the hearing, lawyers for the Epstein victims appeared eager to revise their lawsuits and include the information they obtained through the discovery process. Rakoff said that material may be redacted on the public docket.

"I think he's giving us a chance," Sigrid McCawley, an attorney at Boies Schiller Flexner, told Business Insider.

• Taylor Swift's "The Life of a Showgirl" has spent nine weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
• It surpasses "Folklore" as her third-longest reign atop the chart.
• "The Tortured Poets Department" holds the record in Swift's catalog with 17 weeks at No. 1.

Taylor Swift gave us fair warning in her newest album: "I'm married to the hustle."

Swift's 12th studio album, "The Life of a Showgirl," not only broke the record for the biggest sales week ever, but it also continued to amass sales and streams in the US for over two months after its release.

After seven consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, "Showgirl" returned for its eighth and ninth weeks atop the all-genre album chart.

The impressive tally comes just one year after Swift set a personal-best chart record with "The Tortured Poets Department." Keep reading for a ranking of her 16 studio albums (including both originals and rerecords) based on their Billboard 200 performances.

10. "Taylor Swift"

Billboard 200 peak: No. 5

Swift's self-titled debut is the only studio album in her catalog that hasn't reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

"Taylor Swift" debuted at No. 19 and scaled the chart for more than a year, peaking at No. 5 in 2008.

9 (tie). "Lover"

Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for one week

Swift's seventh studio album was the first one that she owned outright, thanks to her new label contract with UMG.

"Lover" was promoted by several singles, including "You Need to Calm Down," "The Archer," and "The Man."

Four years later, after Swift kicked off the Eras Tour with "Cruel Summer" near the top of the set list, the fan-favorite song climbed to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remained there for four weeks, becoming the album's biggest hit.

9 (tie). "Red (Taylor's Version)"

Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for one week

The extended tracklist for "Red (Taylor's Version)" included the storied extended cut of "All Too Well," a longtime fan-favorite song in Swift's catalog.

"All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" was released alongside a short film directed by Swift and promoted by a convention-breaking performance on "Saturday Night Live." It became the longest song to reach No. 1 in the history of the Hot 100.

8 (tie). "Fearless (Taylor's Version)"

Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for two weeks

"Fearless" was the first rerecorded album that Swift ever released.

The "Taylor's Version" series was inspired by the sale of Swift's masters to Scooter Braun in 2019, which she described as her "worst case scenario" in a passionate open letter. Swift decided to remake and rerelease her first six albums in a bid to reclaim ownership of her life's work. (Braun later sold Swift's masters to a private-equity company.)

In addition to faithfully recreating each tracklist, Swift decided to add never-before-heard songs "from the vault" that were written during the album's original creative process but cut from the final product.

"I've spoken a lot about why I'm remaking my first six albums, but the way I've chosen to do this will hopefully help illuminate where I'm coming from," Swift explained. "Artists should own their own work for so many reasons, but the most screamingly obvious one is that the artist is the only one who really knows that body of work."

"For example, only I know which songs I wrote that almost made the 'Fearless' album," she continued. "Songs I absolutely adored, but were held back for different reasons."

Many were skeptical that the "Taylor's Version" project would be embraced by fans, let alone achieve commercial success.

Those skeptics were forced to eat their words when "Fearless (Taylor's Version)" began to outpace the original on streaming platforms. According to Billboard, "Fearless (Taylor's Version)" earned more equivalent album sales in its first week of release than "Fearless" earned over the entire next year.

Four years later, in May 2025, Swift announced that she bought back her masters from Shamrock Capital, giving her complete control over her musical catalog and rendering her "Taylor's Version" project moot.

8 (tie). "Speak Now (Taylor's Version)"

Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for two weeks

The rerecorded version of Swift's third album featured six songs from the vault, including two duets with Fall Out Boy and Hayley Williams.

7 (tie). "Reputation"

Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for four weeks

"Reputation" arrived after an extended period of silence. Swift's longtime feud with Ye (then known as Kanye West) and Kim Kardashian had reached a fever pitch; in response to a massive social media hate campaign, Swift decamped to London and withdrew from the public eye.

She returned with a new snake-infested aesthetic and "Look What You Made Me Do," a cheeky lead single that poked fun at her own persona — and quickly shot to No. 1 on the Hot 100.

Swift also declined to participate in interviews or media appearances while promoting her sixth album. Instead, she relied on a simple tagline: "There will be no further explanation. There will just be reputation."

7 (tie). "Evermore"

Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for four weeks

"Evermore" was surprise-released just five months after Swift's previous album, "Folklore." The two were billed as "sister albums," created under near-identical conditions with the same team of collaborators.

"To put it plainly, we just couldn't stop writing songs," Swift explained on social media.

"Evermore" was nominated for album of the year at the 2022 Grammys, but lost to Jon Batiste's "We Are."

6 (tie). "Speak Now"

Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for six weeks

Swift's third album had a lot to live up to, following the blockbuster success of "Fearless."

In response to skeptics — who questioned whether the teen phenom was relying too heavily on her collaborators — Swift decided to write "Speak Now" entirely by herself. She is the only songwriter credited on the standard tracklist.

6 (tie). "Midnights"

Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for six weeks

Swift's 10th studio album sold over 1 million copies in its debut week, the first to cross that seven-figure threshold since Swift's own "Reputation." (She has now achieved the feat on eight different occasions.)

"Midnights" also won album of the year at the Grammys, joining "Fearless," "1989," and "Folklore" in the prestigious group of victors. Swift is the only artist in history to win album of the year four times.

6 (tie). "1989 (Taylor's Version)"

Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for six weeks

The rerecorded version of "1989" was released nine years after the original. Swift added five vault songs to the tracklist, including the fan-favorite closer "Is It Over Now?"

5. "Red"

Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for seven weeks

"Red" is Swift's fourth studio album. It featured a mishmash of Max Martin-produced pop bangers ("We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together," "I Knew You Were Trouble") and country-rock breakup anthems ("State of Grace," "Holy Ground").

4. "Folklore"

Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for eight weeks

"Folklore" marked a sonic departure for Swift, stripping down her favored synth-pop production to reveal introspective reflections and intricate narratives.

The pandemic-era album was co-produced by Swift, Jack Antonoff, and Aaron Dessner of The National. It received rave reviews from critics and is widely considered her best work to date.

3. "The Life of a Showgirl"

Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for nine weeks

Cowritten and co-produced with Max Martin and Shellback, "The Life of a Showgirl" was described by Swift as a snapshot of "everything that was going on behind the curtain" during the Eras Tour.

The album's nine-week reign at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 brought Swift's total sum atop the chart to 95, extending her record among solo artists.

Since the Billboard 200 was launched in 1956, only The Beatles have logged more weeks at No. 1 than Swift.

2 (tie). "Fearless"

Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for 11 weeks

Swift's sophomore effort had the longest run at No. 1 of any album in the 2000s. "Fearless" has since been certified diamond by the RIAA.

2 (tie). "1989"

Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for 11 weeks

Swift's fifth album marked her official pivot from country to pop music, a move that Swift said she had to "really fight — and I mean aggressively fight — to have happen."

In addition to its double-digit streak atop the Billboard 200, "1989" yielded several hit singles on the Hot 100, including "Shake It Off," "Blank Space," and "Bad Blood."

1. "The Tortured Poets Department"

Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for 17 weeks

Swift's 11th studio album, "The Tortured Poets Department," did not leave the No. 1 slot for 12 straight weeks after its debut in April 2024, fending off new releases from stars like Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish, and Zach Bryan.

The uninterrupted reign of "Poets" was rare for a streaming-era release. It became the first album ever by a female artist to spend its first 12 weeks atop the chart, surpassing a record previously held by Whitney Houston's 1987 blockbuster "Whitney." (The all-time record for a consecutive streak among women is held by Carole King's "Tapestry," which spent 15 weeks at No. 1 in 1971.)

Swift briefly yielded the top spot to Eminem and Stray Kids before "Poets" notched 13th, 14th, and 15th consecutive weeks atop the chart.

The album eventually fell to lower positions, but then in December of that same year, it returned for two more weeks at No. 1 after Swift released physical versions of the album's deluxe version, "The Anthology," for Black Friday.

• Netflix has agreed to buy Warner Bros. in one of the biggest deals in Hollywood's history.
• Government regulators must decide whether Netflix would be too powerful with key WBD assets.
• The key question: Who does Netflix actually compete with?

Would buying Warner Bros. give Netflix too much power?

The streaming giant is telling regulators it won't, and antitrust experts say the answer ultimately depends on how you define who Netflix competes with.

Does Netflix compete with only paid streaming services, a market where it dominates? What about the TV dinosaurs it disrupted, or the social video services nipping at its heels? Could sleep even be a competitor, as its cofounder Reed Hastings famously suggested?

Rival suitor Paramount Skydance has slammed the Netflix-Warner Bros. mega-deal as anticompetitive, arguing that it would harm consumers and Hollywood talent. Netflix is by far the largest paid subscription video streamer, and it would become even stronger with the addition of WBD's studio assets, including HBO and the Warner Bros. library (stocked with fare like Harry Potter and DC Comics).

Netflix, for its part, is advocating for a definition that considers total US TV viewing time. The streamer, which has expressed confidence in its regulatory case, pointed to this in a letter to its employees on Monday.

"Even after combining with Warner Bros., our view share would only move from 8% to 9% in the US — still well behind YouTube (13%) and a potential Paramount/WBD combination (14%)," Netflix's co-CEOs wrote on Monday, citing Nielsen data. A Netflix spokesperson referred to those remarks when asked for comment.

Convincing antitrust regulators of that could be an uphill battle.

"Antitrust regulators are likely to define the relevant market narrowly," said Anthony Palomba, a business professor at the University of Virginia. "The FTC and DOJ have consistently treated streaming as a discrete competitive arena, separate from linear television, theatrical distribution, or social video platforms."

Then there's the Trump factor.

The president has said the Netflix-Warner Bros. deal "could be a problem."

"They have a very big market share, and when they have Warner Brothers, you know, that share goes up a lot," he said.

Reuben Miller, the head of antitrust at financial data service Dealreporter, said Netflix's bid would "be challenged and litigated unless Netflix can convince Trump to come down on their side."

Here's how regulators could determine Netflix's competitive market and, by extension, the future of the media business.

A Netflix-Warner Bros. marriage would dominate paid streaming revenue

A Netflix-Warner Bros. combination would be a colossus. Netflix and HBO Max have accounted for 39% of paid subscription streaming revenue in 2025, per S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Any firm with 30% to 40% market share has historically drawn scrutiny from the US government. If regulators see paid streamers as a distinct market, Netflix's Warner Bros. deal could be in trouble.

Consumers may not view social media apps — even when they are watched on a TV screen — as close substitutes for Netflix, Disney+, or Hulu, Palomba said. If so, a Netflix-HBO Max combination could limit choice or lead to price hikes.

There are few recent parallels to Netflix's Warner Bros. acquisition, Dealreporter's Miller said. One could be Charter Communications, which was allowed to expand its cable operation in 2016, but streamers were in their early days then. Miller said it felt like the government was protecting the nascent streaming industry. However, consumer behavior has changed so dramatically since then that he's unsure if those market definitions would be applicable.

"The incentive is to start with the assumption that a merger is illegal," Miller added. "They're going to start with as narrow a definition as possible, so they'll probably start with paid streaming. And then the onus is on Netflix to try and get them to expand that market definition."

If paid and free streaming are competitors, Netflix's case looks better

Although Netflix is easily the most viewed paid streamer in the US, it's not the top streamer on TV screens.

That would be free YouTube, whose viewership share has soared relative to Netflix in recent years. At the end of 2022, Netflix and YouTube each commanded 7.5% of viewership on US TVs. But as of October, YouTube commanded a 12.9% share while Netflix took second place at 8%, according to Nielsen.

Along with its paid peers, Netflix is also battling free streamers like The Roku Channel and Fox's Tubi that are popular among Gen Z.

When adding free streamers into the marketplace, Netflix and HBO Max together accounted for just over a fifth of US streaming minutes in October, MoffettNathanson analyst Robert Fishman wrote on Monday. While 20% share is powerhouse status, it might not be a dealbreaker from an antitrust perspective.

In the total TV market, Netflix and Warner Bros. combined would still be small

Netflix has argued that it's competing against all of traditional TV, not just streamers.

Its viewership share ranks sixth among TV media distributors, versus its second-place spot in streaming. When measured against cable and broadcast TV, Netflix's 8% share in October was slightly behind the 8.2% share for Paramount, which includes its cable channels and CBS.

And since Netflix isn't trying to buy Warner Bros. Discovery's cable networks like CNN, it could argue that it's only adding a fraction of the media conglomerate's viewership time.

Industry insiders and analysts doubt social media will count as competition

Netflix would undoubtedly love a broad definition of its competitive market that includes TikTok, Instagram, and even video podcasts and video games, which are also spaces where the streamer competes.

Some media insiders see an ultra-broad competitive landscape as a bridge too far.

"My clients are not pitching shows to YouTube," a TV agent said.

Corey Martin of LA-based law firm Granderson Des Rochers said that "to compare Netflix to YouTube, or even TikTok, is like comparing apples and oranges," as are video game companies.

Consumers tend to think of paid streamers like Netflix or Disney+ when they want to watch movies, TV, or sports, Martin said, but "they don't necessarily think about YouTube or TikTok."

"Directly, it's hard to say that a video game is competing with a movie, or a video game is competing with the TV, even though they do consume our attention," said Rahul Telang, a business professor at Carnegie Mellon University.

However, some see truth in the idea of an all-consuming battle for attention.

Bernstein analyst Laurent Yoon said Netflix may be a leader in long-form video, but others have better sports offerings. Yoon also wrote in a mid-December note that attention has shifted to short-form video on Instagram and TikTok, and even new micro dramas.

"Critics may claim these are apples and oranges, but we heard the same argument about linear vs. streaming only a decade ago," Yoon wrote.