YouTube, Meta Restore Ads for ‘Musk’ Documentary: ‘This Was an Error’

Advertisements for Bleecker Street’s Elon Musk documentary “Musk” will begin running on Meta and YouTube after previously being rejected by both platforms, according to both companies. The decision comes after a story published by The Hollywood Reporter on Friday detailed that the two tech giants, along with TikTok and the Musk-owned X, were refusing to run ads for “Musk.” “This was an error and we’re restoring the ads,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement to TheWrap on Saturday. “The trailer has always been available on YouTube. When submitted as an ad, it was temporarily restricted by our system,” reads a statement posted to YouTube’s official social media account on Saturday. “Following review the ad has been cleared to run.” Representatives for TikTok and X did not immediately respond to a request for comment. X is owned by Musk, so there’s a clear logic to its rejection of advertisements for a documentary that its leadership has publicly described as “dogs–t.” Musk has also threatened legal action against the documentary, which includes claims that he used his Starlink satellites to influence the 2024 presidential election. The four-hour “Musk” debuted at Venice Film Festival in early September to strong reviews. Directed by Alex Gibney, whose prior documentary subjects include the Church of Scientology and Elizabeth Holmes, the film will be released in North America by Bleecker Street on Oct. 9. In TheWrap’s review out of Venice, contributor and critic Ben Croll wrote that “Musk” is a “punishing doc (that) is meant to spur nightmares” and “an ongoing obituary for a world and a global order in palliative care.”