All major social media platforms refuse to run ads for the next Musk documentary, which will be released in theaters on October 9, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Google-owned YouTube and Meta’s Facebook and Instagram have refused to release trailers for Muskmuch to the surprise of distributor Bleecker Street. The same goes for TikTok, which is run in the United States by a joint venture backed by Oracle. According to THR, all three tech companies cited reasons related to “political content.”
TikTok does not allow political ads. Meta places restrictions on political ads, but not a strict ban, just pre-authorization. YouTube only requires disclosures. But until now, all of these restrictions have primarily been seen as applying to political campaigns/parties and advocacy or lobbying groups, not Hollywood.
Not only has X (nee Twitter), owned by Elon Musk, refused to respond to Bleecker Street’s advertising requests, but X “won’t even accept advertising for any of its other films on its upcoming schedule,” THR wrote.
THR reported that TikTok and YouTube are still “reviewing petitions” from Bleecker Street to reconsider their decision, although Meta is not and has rejected the distribution company’s appeal. None of the social media companies immediately responded to THR’s requests for comment.
You could be forgiven for being worried at first Musk could be a kind of Melanie-a bunch of sycophantic vomit, but it’s actually directed by respected documentarian Alex Gibney and described by Variety as “a lacerating portrait of technocratic brilliance, lust for power, and crackpot delusion.” (POV Magazine described it as simply “total spookiness.”) By the way, the trailer is here.
In other words, it’s exactly the kind of thing that could piss off Musk, who has notoriously thin skin and needs no excuse to descend into a fit of rage. Musk already did: he responded by tweeting that Gibney has “ZERO integrity” and is a “horrible human.”
Musk’s networks of companies and business interests extend throughout Silicon Valley and beyond: this is how you become the world’s first temporary billionaire. He has wealth, business relationships to threaten, and other methods of influence, not to mention an army of right-wing trolls and/or government officials who cater to his every grievance. It’s unclear if he received one of these favors, or if the tech companies are just helping to silence the baby out of habit.
This antagonistic reality situation in which Musk operates, THR previously reported, almost led Comcast-owned Universal to refuse to distribute the completed film overseas because it had cold feet on a subject that was “politically sensitive to parts of the Trump administration.” This is despite the fact that the film’s overseas rights cost Universal a “significant amount of money”, according to THR. Universal later said it would support the film.
As THR mentioned, documentaries particularly rely on word of mouth via social media, so this could be a major blow to the documentary’s promotional campaign. It’s the latest in a series of reminders that corporate consolidation increasingly limits opportunities for commentary and artistic freedom.
But Musk can’t stop people from saying how much he doesn’t want them to see Muskcan he? Maybe the Streisand effect will kick in soon enough.
Gn entert
