Elon Musk Blames 'Woke Mind Virus' For Netflix's Drop In Userbase And Plummeting Stocks

It's been a rough quarter for Netflix as the streaming giant reported a shrinkage in subscribers for the first time in its 12-year history recently, leading to a massive plummet in its stock price of around 35 percent.

Despite the Netflix's multiple recent smash-hit shows like Squid Game and Bridgerton, it didn't surprise many that the platform was coming under hard times. Many felt the platform's bloat of cheap, low-quality content damaged its reputation. Meanwhile, its competitors like HBO Max and Disney+ are coming out with hit programming and consumers may have decided to cut Netflix out of their subscriptions for economic reasons.

Billionaire and part-time intellectual Elon Musk offered a different hypothesis to explain Netflix's woes, however — the dreaded "woke mind virus."

The woke mind virus is making Netflix unwatchable

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2022

Musk did not elaborate on how he felt the "woke mind virus" was ruining Netflix, leaving readers left to guess what Musk meant by his claim. It's possible he was referring to the recent controversy when Netflix's employees staged a walkout over the company's decision to air a Dave Chappelle special that some felt was transphobic.

It could be that Musk feels the platform's original programming is too "woke" for the company's own good, though the content of Netflix's original programming doesn't offer much justification for that line of thinking. The platform's most streamed original programs recently have been enjoyably low-brow reality television shows like Love Is Blind and The Ultimatum, two experiment-driven dating shows that exclusively focus on heterosexual couples and Is It Cake?, a competition show where bakers attempt to make cakes look like objects. On the scripted program side, Netflix has scored a hit with the steamy Victorian romance drama Bridgerton and Inventing Anna, a show about a New York City socialite scammer. Few argue such shows are excessively "woke."

As such, reactions to Musk's tweet were split between those who sagely agreed with the Tesla billionaire and those who wondered what he was talking about.

Which shows on Netflix do you think have been infected by the woke mind virus?

— Cody Johnston (@drmistercody) April 20, 2022

from the replies it seems like the main thrust of this criticism is that that one viking show has a woman in it https://t.co/qjmaA7RwuR

— flglmn (@flglmn) April 20, 2022

what does this even mean https://t.co/cBCzapU5Jf

— A.R. Moxon (@JuliusGoat) April 20, 2022

🎯 I Can barely watch any TV any more. Almost every show is steeped with Woke Agendas….. https://t.co/zMLisYZ92P

— Ger Delaney (@GerardDelaney39) April 20, 2022

But the top two trending netflix</a> documentaries are yours <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">elonmusk – are you woke now lol https://t.co/H6Ab19Eofb pic.twitter.com/7K5aFFPC89

— Arturo Loaiza-Bonilla, MD MSEd (@DrBonillaOnc) April 20, 2022

that or there are a zillion streaming services and it's finally catching up to Netflix. But woke mind virus. Sure. https://t.co/ZWTwfG0wfS

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 20, 2022

It's unclear if Netflix will address the problem of the Woke Mind Virus in its upcoming slate of original programming like the real estate reality show Selling Sunset and an adaptation of Marmaduke. More clear is that the company is going to experiment with offering cheaper, ad-supported subscriptions, which has opened its own can of worms.

Netflix has accidentally invented tv

— Colby Day (@thecolbyday) April 19, 2022

Amid the drop in stock price, Netflix also warned customers it may crackdown on password sharing soon. According to the company's quarterly report, Netflix estimates more than 30 million U.S. and Canadian households are sharing accounts, while more than 100 million additional households are purportedly using shared passwords worldwide.

"Our relatively high household penetration – when including the large number of households sharing accounts – combined with competition, is creating revenue growth headwinds," Netflix stated in its letter. "Account sharing as a percentage of our paying membership hasn’t changed much over the years, but, coupled with the first factor, means it’s harder to grow membership in many markets — an issue that was obscured by our COVID growth."