Elon Musk’s extraordinary power is making it remarkably difficult to advertise a documentary about just how powerful Elon Musk has become.
YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook owner Meta, and, predictably, Musk’s own platform X have all refused to run paid advertisements for Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney’s explosive new four-hour documentary Musk, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The film’s distributor has been told by several platforms that the content runs afoul of their bans on “political content,” even though it promotes a movie trailer—not a candidate or political campaign.
YouTube, TikTok, and Meta have reportedly blocked the ads from film company Bleecker Street, claiming the documentary trailer falls under their ban on political ads. While the film contains some scenes from political rallies, it’s not itself a political advertisement. Instagram hasn’t yet said why it rejected the ad.
Bleecker Street has appealed the platforms’ decisions. Meta has already rejected the appeal, while TikTok and YouTube are still weighing whether to allow the ads, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
X is reportedly refusing to communicate with Bleecker Street, and has so far refused to accept advertising for any of its upcoming films.
Gibney’s documentary “depicts the world’s richest man as petty, narcissistic, megalomaniacal, cruel, [and] detached from humans at a personal level (including various ex-partners and many of his children),” according to Deadline’s Matthew Carey.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO slammed the film, which premiered at the Venice International Film Festival earlier this month, as a “hit piece” and has threatened legal action.
The social media wall now helping to shield Musk only underscores a key point in the film: the tech mogul is so alarmingly wealthy and powerful that he can wield enormous influence over what the public sees and learns.
“I do worry about the storm clouds on the horizon,” Gibney admitted while promoting the film in Venice. He said he encountered a “tremendous sense of fear” among his Musk sources. “Many, many, many, many” people refused to speak out, he noted.
The documentary just dodged a bullet with Universal, which is releasing the film overseas. Universal reversed its earlier decision to drop distribution of the epic doc following a flood of public criticism.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Meta, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and X for comment.
Musk will arrive in select theaters in New York and Los Angeles on Oct. 9, then roll out nationwide one week later.
