This article originally appeared on WND.com
Guest by post by Bob Unruh
Claimed an announcement about a new service was ‘indoctrination’
The Hulu streaming service has abruptly reversed itself, doing a 180 when confronted about its decision to censor a Texas church’s advertisement.
Jeremy Dys, senior counsel for First Liberty Institute, confirmed, “We are grateful to Hulu for its quick response to our demand letter and for accepting Hulen Street Church’s ad.”
He pointed out that 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.”
The church serves a “significant” number of people in Fort Worth, and recognizing that growing numbers work on Sundays, started a Thursday night service.
“To advertise its new service time, the church created a 22-second video ad in which Pastor Wes Hamilton extends a short invitation. The church successfully placed its ad through Facebook, Instagram, and Google Ads, but despite seeming to fit Hulu’s announced advertising policy, Hulu originally rejected the ad twice,” First Liberty said.
A report on the dispute at CBN said it previously had reported that Hulen Street Church had accused Hulu of rejecting its ad “over the claim the spot violated policies surrounding ‘religious indoctrination.’”
But, Dys noted, such a designation is nowhere in Hulu’s ad policies.
His organization then delivered a demand letter that encouraged Hulu to recognize and accept religious advertising.
Dys explained to CBN what had happened: “Hulu … has a bunch of ads that they allow people to put on the platform if you’re an approved advertiser. 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.”
The message from the church was anything but controversial, stating, “Does your work schedule or busy family calendar not allow you to attend church on a Sunday morning? If so, I want to invite you to Thursday nights at Hulen Street Church beginning on February 1st.”
Hulu, a Disney-owned company, initially claimed the ad involved “religious indoctrination.”
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