Newsmakers

'Religious Indoctrination': Church Challenges Hulu Over Rejected Ad

A Texas church is accusing streaming platform Hulu of rejecting an advertisement over the claim the spot violated policies surrounding "religious indoctrination." It's a designation Jeremy Dys, senior counsel for First Liberty, a religious liberty law firm, 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 after," according to a statement. Dys spoke with CBN News to offer more context on the situation. "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 spot encouraged people to learn about the extra church service, offering the time and location. After asking for a response from Hulu as to why it was precluded from rotation, 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." First Liberty's letter comes 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. "In its letter, First Liberty urges Hulu immediately 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," First Liberty said in a press release. Hear Dys explain.

Broadcast on:: 28 Feb 2024

"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 spot encouraged people to learn about the extra church service, offering the time and location. After asking for a response from Hulu as to why it was precluded from rotation, 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."

First Liberty's letter comes 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. "In its letter, First Liberty urges Hulu immediately 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," First Liberty said in a press release. Hear Dys explain.