TikTok suspends ad account for Alex Gibney's Musk documentary, citing political content policy

TikTok has permanently suspended the advertising account that distributor Bleecker Street used to promote Musk, Alex Gibney's documentary about Elon Musk, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The outlet reported that the distributor was notified on Friday afternoon that the suspension was coming and lost the ability to buy ads shortly afterwards. TikTok pointed to what it described as repeated political content in breach of its rules. The step came as the film moved from four theaters to more than 470 screens across North America.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film's regular unpaid TikTok account is still active, but Bleecker Street can no longer pay to promote its posts. Other outlets described the situation differently: TheWrap, citing representatives of the distributor, reported that the account, which had more than 10,000 followers, was taken off the platform after the notice, while The Verge described the account as banned. A Bleecker Street spokesperson confirmed the suspension to The Hollywood Reporter, voiced disappointment about the timing and said the company is appealing. The outlet noted that even a reversal could prove costly if it misses the key weekend window. TikTok did not comment.

Email exchanges between the two companies, described by The Hollywood Reporter, show repeated rejections and appeals over several paid posts. According to the correspondence, an official wrote that the trailer would keep being removed because of political content, and a spot built around a quote from The New Yorker was blocked on the grounds that it was a static image. According to The Hollywood Reporter, one TikTok message cited a "level of severity with political-policy violations" and warned that "some violations trigger immediate suspension". The Hollywood Reporter said it was unclear which violations were meant, and TheWrap reported that TikTok did not specify the rules involved. Around six pieces of content could not be promoted in recent days, including a humorous intermission-themed ad with politically pointed jokes, which drew 270,000 views on the unpaid account, and a post urging people to see the film while they still could.

Other platforms have also handled the film's advertising unevenly. TechCrunch reported that Meta and YouTube initially rejected ads for the trailer before allowing them, with Meta attributing the rejection to an error; The Verge said YouTube and Google described their reversal the same way. X, which Musk owns, has declined to carry ads for the film, and TheWrap reported that Musk has criticized the documentary on that platform. TechCrunch added that Gibney confirmed the film's international distributor, Universal, had hesitated over its release plans but is now going ahead.

The Hollywood Reporter noted that TikTok has no official link to Musk, but is partly owned by Larry Ellison, who appears in the film through a text message offering to help finance Musk's Twitter purchase; TechCrunch specified that Ellison partly owns TikTok's U.S. operations, while TheWrap described the connection as running through Oracle's involvement. HBO, which financed the documentary and plans to stream it next year, is now part of Skydance under Ellison's son David, according to TechCrunch and TheWrap. The film runs 235 minutes including an intermission. It took about $70,000 from four theaters in New York and Los Angeles in its opening weekend, and TheWrap, citing industry estimates, said it was projected to earn about $297,000 this weekend from 472 theaters, an average of $629 per venue.