TikTok, X reportedly barring ads for documentary about Elon Musk

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, attends the Viva Technology conference in Paris, on June 16, 2023. (Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo/Reuters)Social SharingAds for a documentary putting a critical lens on controversial billionaire Elon Musk have reportedly been banned from both TikTok and X but, after brief delays, are now running on YouTube and Meta's social media platforms.

The trailer for the nearly four-hour film Musk dropped on Thursday ahead of its Oct. 9 theatrical release. 

But on Friday, a story in the Hollywood Reporter said indie distributor Bleecker Street was rejected by all four companies when it attempted to buy ads on the platforms for the film. YouTube, TikTok and Meta — parent company to Facebook and Instagram — reportedly blamed its "political content" while X, which Musk owns, did not comment.

In the wake of an online backlash, YouTube said on Saturday that ads for Musk are now running on the platform. 

"When submitted as an ad, it was temporarily restricted by our system," YouTube said through its updates account on X. "Following review the ad has been cleared to run."

A spokesperson for Meta told CBC News on Monday that the ads "were rejected in error and have been restored," without elaborating.

Bleecker Street, TikTok and X did not return calls for comment.

Elon Musk is shown in a still from Alex Gibney's documentary Musk. (The Canadian Press/Handout - TIFF)TikTok does not permit paid political ads, and Meta restricts them in some regions such as the European Union. YouTube allows political ads with transparency disclosures, and X permits them in regions including the U.S. 

Musk's political profile rose sharply when he campaigned for U.S. President Donald Trump's re-election in 2024 and ultimately joined his administration as head of the budget-slashing Department of Government Efficiency. He has since left the administration, but remains a divisive and outspoken figure.

But while Musk's trailer includes brief clips from his appearances on the campaign trail, it's unclear how this would qualify it as the type of campaign ads covered by platforms' restrictions.

One of the topics of the film is how the richest man in the world has allegedly aimed to control conversation online — digging into his purchase of Twitter, now X, and allegations that Musk, despite his free-speech stylings, may have used his Starlink satellites to improperly influence the 2024 election.

After YouTube and Meta said they had OK'd the ads, director Alex Gibney said the "public pressure worked."

"The censorious platforms backed down,” he wrote Saturday on X.

Gibney later posted a 2022 quote from a Musk press release about his acquisition of Twitter, in which he stated "free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated."

"Will X allow ads for the trailer for my film 'Musk,' about the self-proclaimed 'free-speech absolutist?'" he wrote. 

Gibney poses for a photo during the 83rd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Sept. 9. (Scott A Garfitt/Invision/The Associated Press)Since 2023, when Gibney announced his intent to make the film, Musk has consistently called it a "hit piece."

He called Gibney "a horrible human" and "a bitter old man who lost the plot long ago" on X in the wake of the film’s debut at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month. He also reportedly threatened the production with legal action over its insinuations about the Starlink satellites.

The film has been widely praised by critics. 

Vulture, the arts wing of New York magazine, called it a “damning” portrayal of Musk that left the reviewer “terrified at how much money and power he’s accrued,” while the trade paper Variety called it a "lacerating portrait of technocratic brilliance, power lust and crackpot delusion."

Musk isn't the only tech billionaire coming under the camera this year. Aaron Sorkin's dramatized The Social Reckoning, which puts the spotlight on Mark Zuckerberg in a followup to the Sorkin-penned 2010 film The Social Network, will be released by Sony next month.

Alexandra Mae Jones is a senior writer for CBC News based in Toronto. She has written on a variety of topics, from health to pop culture to breaking news, and previously reported for CTV News and the Toronto Star. She joined CBC in 2024. You can reach her at alexandra.mae.jones@cbc.ca