TikTok reportedly bans ads for Musk documentary before its wider US release

The platform attributed the decision to “political content that goes against its policy.”

Bleecker Street

The nearly four-hour documentary called Musk that covers the eponymous billionaire is continuing to generate controversy. The latest move saw TikTok ban the advertising account behind Musk, as first reported by The Hollywood Reporter. The social media platform attributed the ban to a "repeated pattern of political content that violates its policies," according to the report.

The documentary, directed by Alex Gibney and distributed by Bleecker Street, saw a limited opening weekend starting October 9 where it was playing at four theaters in New York and Los Angeles. Following an initial grossing of around $70,000 during its opening weekend, showings of Musk expanded across many more US theaters on October 16. TikTok's "permanent suspension" of the promotional account comes just before the documentary was set to be more widely distributed. Bleecker Street told THR that it would appeal the decision and attempt to get it reversed.

Apart from TikTok, the Musk documentary has run into promotional ad issues with other social media platforms, including Meta and YouTube. However, these two platforms eventually allowed for trailer ads promoting the film's release, with a Meta spokesperson telling THR the initial decision was "an error," while YouTube posted a statement that it's been "cleared to run." X, which is owned by Musk, has previously refused to run the trailer for the doc, according to an earlier report from THR.