With the midterm elections just over three months away, The Walt Disney Co. said Wednesday that it will allow ads that feature political issues to appear on Hulu's streaming service effective immediately, according to Axios.
Disney's initial decision to reject political issue ads on Hulu sparked allegations of censorship, as issues such as gun control and abortion have become critical to the Democrats' midterm messaging.
The hashtag "#BoycottHulu" was one of the top-trending topics on Twitter in the U.S. on Tuesday morning, after three Democrat organizations — the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and the Democratic Governors Association — fumed to The Washington Post that Hulu had rejected their joint ads on abortion and guns.
"Hulu's censorship of the truth is outrageous and offensive," the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee tweeted on Monday. "Voters have the right to know the facts about MAGA Republicans' extreme agenda on abortion — Hulu is doing a huge disservice to the American people."
According to Axios, Hulu's ad guidelines will now align with those used for Disney's cable networks and will allow issue ads to appear across the platform. The company said it reserves the right to request clients to modify ads that don't meet its standards.
While it has accepted candidate ads previously, Hulu has barred political issue advertising for years. Having gained majority control over the streaming platform, Disney is moving to bring Hulu's policies in line with its own.
"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 and ESPN+," Disney said in a statement Wednesday.
"Hulu will now accept candidate and issue advertisements covering a wide spectrum of policy positions, but reserves the right to request edits or alternative creative, in alignment with industry standards," the company added.
Disney's broadcast networks, like ABC and ABC affiliates, are held to a different standard and are required by law to accept ads from political candidates on any topic, regardless of potential controversy.
Broadcasters are legally prohibited from rejecting political ads based on content, with some exceptions for things like obscenity.
The Hulu incident is the latest in a year marked by political controversy for Disney. The company's CEO was denounced by employees for initially failing to speak out about Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act, and conservatives launched a boycott after the company essentially went to war with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over the legislation.
According to Variety, Disney owns a two-thirds controlling interest in Hulu, with Comcast owning the other 33% stake.
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