Following an outcry over potential suppression, YouTube and Meta are changing direction on an ad for an Elon Musk documentary.
Bleecker Street, the studio behind Alex Gibney’s upcoming Musk, will be allowed to buy an ad for the trailer on the platform after all, a YouTube spokesperson tells The Hollywood Reporter. The trailer “was temporarily restricted by our system. Following review, the ad has been cleared to run,” the company said, also posting the message to social media.
Meanwhile, a Meta spokesperson tells THR that a decision to reject the ad “was an error and we’re restoring the ads.”
On Friday, THR reported that YouTube, along with Meta, TikTok and X had all refused to allow Bleecker Street to run a paid ad for the trailer, raising the specter of suppression on a documentary about the very subject. The trailer had been released Thursday ahead of the film’s Oct. 9 release.
A YouTube spokesperson said the ad should be appearing soon, though as of late Saturday morning Bleecker Street has not yet been informed of any change. The company had been appealing the initial ruling from YouTube.
The Meta reversal is especially notable as the company had previously rejected an appeal by Bleecker Street, leaving it with few options to run ads on Instagram and Facebook. The company first made the comment about the reversal to TechCrunch.
TikTok and X have remained quiet and continue not to run the ad.
Gibney’s film examines the full scope of Musk’s career, taking a critical look at his stewardship of Tesla, SpaceX and Starlink among other ventures. In addition to examining Musk’s role in controlling the discourse on X, the movie investigates the mogul’s time in Washington with DOGE. It challenges his role as an increasingly powerful electoral player.
The trailer had flicked at a few of those moments, including a shot of Musk at a 2024 Donald Trump campaign rally. That appeared to be the official basis of the rejection by the social platforms, even though the video could hardly be considered a campaign ad by any conventional standard.
Social media is a key part of any documentary’s release campaign and, in this case, marketers’ ability to take out ads is a central way for audiences to learn about Musk and the hazards that Gibney alleges he poses.
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