Top social media platforms, including YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, have reportedly declined to run paid advertisements for an upcoming documentary about Elon Musk. The film, titled "Musk" and directed by Alex Gibney, offers a critical examination of the tech mogul's businesses and political influence.
Musk himself has publicly criticized the documentary, predicting it would be the "most convincingly terrible hit piece" on him and calling Gibney a "douchebag to his core and, in his own words, incredibly biased against me." Musk's attorney also reportedly threatened a defamation lawsuit over the film.
The trailer for "Musk" was released on a Thursday and features snippets from the film, including controversies surrounding Musk. According to reports, the platforms cited "political content" as the reason for rejecting the ads. Musk's own platform, X, has also reportedly refused to run the advertisements.
Following reports of ad rejections, YouTube stated that the trailer had "always been available on YouTube" and that while it was temporarily restricted by their system when submitted as an ad, it has since been cleared to run. A Meta spokesperson confirmed that an error occurred and that the ads are being restored.
Despite these statements, the film's distributor, Bleecker Street, has reportedly appealed the ad rejections, with Meta having already denied their appeal. A dedicated page on X shares information and sources related to the documentary, which Musk's legal team has sought to suppress, including allegations of debunked conspiracy theories involving SpaceX's Starlink satellites.