Community Corner
MTA Approves New Ad Guidelines Following 'Savages' Ad Controversy
The authority voted unanimously to prohibit any ads that would incite violence.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority approved new guidelines for advertisements on Thursday, following outcry from a judge’s ruling that they must allow a controversial pro-Israel ad that referred to Muslims as “savages,” says the New York Times.
According to the paper, the MTA voted 8-0 to prohibit ads that it “reasonably foresees would imminently incite or provoke violence or other immediate breach of the peace.”
The American Freedom Defense Initiative sued the MTA in July for originally disapproving their pro-Israel ads, and a federal judge ruled that the ads must be allowed under free speech laws.
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Under the new policy, the MTA will allow controversial political ads, but each will include a disclaimer noting that the MTA does not endorse the views presented in the ad.
“You deal with a free-speech issue with more free speech,” MTA chairman Joseph Lhota told the paper.