Hulu backs down on ad policy after Dem outcry

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

According to a new report, Hulu will begin accepting political issue and candidate ads.

The decision to ban ads about abortion, gun reform, and other issues was made by Disney, a majority owner of the streaming platform.

After a thorough review of ad policies across its linear networks and streaming platforms over the last few months, Disney is now aligning Hulu's political advertising policies to be consistent with the company's general entertainment and sports cable networks.

The fight went public this week after the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and Democratic Governors Association revealed that the campaign ads they were rejecting were centered on gun rights. The ads were run by cable, broadcast, and other social media platforms. The controversy led to the creation of the #boycottHulu.

Disney won't allow campaigns to make certain edits to ads in line with industry standards.

This week, the Democrats had a back and forth with the streaming service. The first person to make the policy public was a New York congressional candidate.

We are at an absolutely critical time in our nation's history and we need to overturn the ad content policies. How are voters supposed to make informed choices if candidates can't talk about important issues?