Austin, Texas – Billionaire Elon Musk appears to be getting support from other tech leaders as multiple social media sites are refusing to air an ad for a documentary about him that he has described as “a hit piece.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, YouTube, TikTok, and Meta – the parent company of Facebook and Instagram – have all rejected requests from the film’s distributor Bleecker Street to run a paid advertisement on the respective platforms.
The social platforms claimed the ad contained “political content,” violating their terms of service.
Bleecker Street told the outlet the rejections caught them by surprise, and they are in the process of appealing the decisions.
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X, the social platform owned by Musk, has outright refused to engage with the distributor, even refusing to air ads for its other releases.
Critics on social media have accused the world’s biggest platforms of conspiring to censor the film, as it is expected to be highly critical of the billionaire.
Social media exposure is also key for documentaries, as they rely more on word-of-mouth with theatrical releases than other genres of film.
The four-hour film – directed by Alex Gibney and set to be released October 9 – examines Musk’s rise to fame, wealth, and powerful influence. It features a number of interviews with individuals who were once close to Musk, including some of the mothers of his 14 children.
Since the project was announced in 2023, Musk has repeatedly described the film a “hit piece,” and urged his millions of followers on X not to see it.
