Political advertising no longer has a place on New York City subways and busses.
The board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted Wednesday to ban political advertising on its subway cars and busses in order to avoid any legal challenges that may arise following decisions to reject certain ads from running.
The new policy prohibits ads for political parties, ballot referendums and any ad that is “political in nature,” according to The New York Times. The new policy goes into effect immediately.
The change comes on the heels of a federal judge’s decision last week to allow a pro-Israel group to run ads on subway cars and busses reading, “Killing Jews is worship that draws us close to Allah. That’s His Jihad? What’s yours?” MTA had argued the ad could incite violence against Jews, but the ad’s creators, the American Freedom Defense Initiative, sued and won.
Christopher Dunn, associated legal director for the New York Civil Liberties Union, told the board that the transit system functions as the city’s public square — meaning free speech must be maintained there, even if some ads could be seen as hateful.
“It is unconscionable that you are thinking about barring all political ads from the transit system,” Dunn said in response to the MTA’s vote.
MTA will still allow commercial advertising, government-paid messages and some public service announcements to be displayed on its subway cars and busses.
