Streaming platform Hulu has reportedly reversed course after rejecting a Texas church’s advertisement promoting church services, a decision announced by First Liberty Institute, a religious liberty law firm.
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“We are grateful to Hulu for its quick response to our demand letter and for accepting Hulen Street Church’s ad,” Jeremy Dys, senior counsel at First Liberty Institute, said in a statement.
As CBN News previously reported, Hulen Street Church accused Hulu this week of rejecting the advertisement over the claim the spot violated policies surrounding “religious indoctrination.”
It’s a designation Dys said is nowhere in Hulu’s ad parameters.
The purported rejection of Hulen Street Church’s ad led Dys to issue a demand letter “urging the platform to change its policy toward religious advertising,” according to a statement.
Dys spoke with CBN News Tuesday, a day before Hulu is said to have reversed course.
“Hulu … has a bunch of ads that they allow people to put on the platform if you’re an approved advertiser,” Dys said. “Hulen Street Church … decided to open up a new [Thursday] service time for people … who aren’t able to get to Sunday services, and they wanted to advertise that locally like they’ve done in a lot of other places, and so they became it an approved advertiser. They submitted their ad and it was rejected. They submitted it again, and it was rejected again.”
According to Dys, the 22-second ad, featuring Pastor Wes Hamilton, encouraged people to learn about the extra church service.
“Does your work schedule or busy family calendar not allow you to attend Church on a Sunday morning?” the ad opens. “If so, I want to invite you to Thursday nights at Hulen Street Church beginning on February 1st.”
It concludes, “We created Thursday nights at Hulen Street because we know that even though Sunday may not be an option for you, that doesn’t mean your faith isn’t important to you.”
After asking for a response from Hulu as to why the spot was rejected, the church was reportedly given a surprising answer.
“Hulu came back and said that advertisement violated their guidelines because it engaged in religious indoctrination, and so that’s why they lost their ad,” Dys said. “They couldn’t post their ad because it engaged in religious indoctrination. Apparently, just telling people that you have a church service available to them at a certain time and day of the week is religious indoctrination to the people at Hulu.”
The spat over the ad came as the U.S. Supreme Court heard argument this week surrounding laws in Texas and Florida that require Big Tech companies to publish user standards and implement them with fairness. The justices seemed skeptical of the Florida and Texas laws, though it’s unclear how they will rule on the matter and whether any decree would be the final say on the complex situation.
First Liberty had urged Hulu in its demand letter to “allow Hulen Street Church’s ad and to adopt policies to conform with the Texas and Florida state laws currently under review by the Supreme Court, by making its religious advertising policy transparent and applying its policy fairly and equally.”
While announcing Hulu’s change of heart, Dys affirmed his belief the Disney-owned company should have a more transparent process for ad policies.
“In the future, Hulu — and others in Big Tech — could avoid these kinds of conflicts by adopting advertising policies that do not discriminate against religious organizations, being transparent about its advertising policy, and applying it fairly,” he said.
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