After announcing her 2024 presidential campaign, U.S Vice President Kamala Harris received over $81 million in just 24 hours, according to The Associated Press. The Washington Post reported that Harris' campaign raised over $100 million in 41 hours.
According to some news reports, one of those donors was Netflix co-founder and chairman Reed Hastings, who supposedly donated $7 million to a super PAC supporting Harris' run.
In the wake of the reports, posts began appearing on various social media sites, including X, Facebook and TikTok, making various claims about the donation, and calling on users to cancel their subscriptions to the video-streaming service in protest. The uproar even caused the hashtag #CancelNetflix to trend on the platform.
However, the language in the posts was not consistent — some posts claimed the donation came directly from Hastings, while others claimed it came from his company. Some claimed the donation went directly to Harris' campaign while others suggested it went to a Harris super PAC.
Snopes investigated the claim and found that Netflix had not donated any money to political causes in either 2023 or 2024. Meanwhile, Hastings — who stepped down as Netflix's CEO in 2023 — personally told journalists that he had donated $7 million of his own money to a super PAC, the Republican Accountability PAC, that supported Harris. We found no evidence either Netflix or Hastings donated $7 million directly to Harris' campaign.
Federal regulations bar corporations like Netflix from directly donating to a political campaign, and individuals may only donate a maximum of $3,300 per election. Snopes found reputable news reports that said donations were not made to a campaign but to a super PAC, which has no limits on donations from either corporations or individuals. This information was omitted when the claim made its way onto social media.
The Federal Election Commission maintains a database of political donations made at the federal level. So, we searched the records for any donations Netflix had made in the past two years, and found nothing. Netflix did not make any political donations in either 2023 or 2024.
Politico reporting in 2012 revealed that Netflix did found its own PAC, called FlixPAC. However, the FEC's records showed the PAC had not been active since 2018, and the supposed donation to Harris' campaign did not come from FlixPAC, either.
This is because, as pointed out by some in the replies, the news reports about the $7 million donation stated that the donation came from Hastings personally, and had nothing to do with Netflix as a company.
According to reporting from The Information, a news site focused on technology and business, Hastings' $7 million donation was made to the "Republican Accountability PAC." The article stated:
Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings has given $7 million to a super PAC supporting Kamala Harris's run for president, the Republican Accountability PAC. Hastings said it was his biggest donation ever in support of a single candidate.
The gift comes less than a month after Hastings joined the chorus of major Democratic donors asking President Joe Biden to exit the presidential race after his disastrous debate performance in June. Hastings donated to the PAC on the recommendation of billionaire venture capitalist and fellow Democratic megadonor Reid Hoffman.
Hastings, who's currently worth about $4.6 billion according to Forbes, has upped his personal giving to left-leaning causes since retiring from his role as Netflix CEO in 2023. The $7 million donation was his first in the 2024 presidential race. "After the depressing debate, we are in the game again," Hastings said in a text message.
Snopes emailed Julia Black, the reporter who wrote the story, to verify the information in the story. Black told Snopes via email that the "information came directly from (Hastings) himself." She added that Reid Hoffman personally confirmed that he spoke with Hastings about making the donation.
When we searched the FEC's campaign finance database to find donations made by Hastings, we did not find the reported $7 million donation to the Republican Accountability PAC. Instead, his most recent donation was made on Feb. 2, 2024, to "Anthony Portantino for Congress," for $2,900.
According to Open Secrets, which helps track money in political campaigns, federal laws only require super PACs to report their donations during an election year on a monthly basis. As such, Snopes will continue to review the FEC's database in the upcoming weeks to gain further confirmation that the $7 million donation did take place, as reported.
We also fact-checked a rumor that Netflix's stock plunged after the donation, which originated on a site that labels its content as satire.