Roku is refusing to drop NRA TV, even as companies face increasing pressure to sever all ties with the National Rifle Association after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, this month.
While the streaming company said it share “deep sadness” for the mass shooting that left 17 people dead, it will not affect their product.
“While the vast majority of all streaming on our platform is mainstream entertainment, voices on all sides of an issue or cause are free to operate a channel," Roku said, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
"We do not curate or censor based on viewpoint."
Roku said they have no business relationship with the NRA, neither promoting NRA TV nor receive money for distributing it.
"We do not and have not ever had a commercial relationship with the NRA," the company said in a statement.
"Their channel is free to consumers with no ads. We welcome Moms Demand Action and other important groups to use our platform to share their messages too."
Several companies have cut ties with the NRA after the Valentine’s Day shooting, including Enterprise Holdings Inc., the First National Bank of Omaha, Delta, and United.
In addition to pressuring Roku, gun control activists are urging streaming companies Google, Apple, and Amazon to pull NRA TV from their services.
Roku’s full statement is below:
We share deep sadness about the recent tragedy that occurred in Florida.
Our streaming platform allows our customers to choose from thousands of entertainment, news and special interest channels, representing a wide range of topics and viewpoints. Customers choose and control which channels they download or watch, and parents can set a pin to prevent channels from being downloaded. While the vast majority of all streaming on our platform is mainstream entertainment, voices on all sides of an issue or cause are free to operate a channel. We do not curate or censor based on viewpoint. We are not promoting or being paid to distribute NRA TV. We do not and have not ever had a commercial relationship with the NRA. Their channel is free to consumers with no ads. We welcome Moms Demand Action and other important groups to use our platform to share their messages too.
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While open to many voices, we have policies that prohibit the publication of content that is unlawful, incites illegal activities or violates third-party rights, among other things. If we determine a channel violates these policies, it will be removed. To our knowledge, NRA TV is not currently in violation of these content policies.
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