Meta and YouTube Clear Ads for Gibney's 'Musk' Documentary
TL;DR
- Meta and YouTube restored paid ads for Alex Gibney's 'Musk' documentary after initially rejecting them under political-content rules.
- Meta had already turned down distributor Bleecker Street's appeal before reversing, calling the block 'an error'; YouTube called the ad 'temporarily restricted.'
- TikTok and X are still refusing the trailer; Elon Musk himself posted 'Dogshit is worth more respect than Gibney' about the film.
"Dogshit is worth more respect than Gibney," Elon Musk wrote on X, explaining his own platform's refusal to run a trailer ad for a documentary about him. YouTube, TikTok and Meta had also rejected the paid ad from distributor Bleecker Street, all three citing political-content policies.
Meta and YouTube reversed course this week, TechCrunch reported. A Meta spokesperson said the block "was an error and the ads are being restored." YouTube said the trailer "was temporarily restricted by our system. Following review the ad has been cleared to run."
The Meta reversal is the more striking of the two: the company had already rejected an appeal from Bleecker Street, leaving the distributor with few options for paid promotion on Instagram and Facebook, before flipping. TikTok and X have remained quiet and continue not to run the ad.
"Musk," directed by Alex Gibney, premiered at the Venice Film Festival this month and holds a 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating. It features interviews with Justine Musk and Ashley St. Clair, and examines Musk's stewardship of Tesla, SpaceX and Starlink alongside his time in Washington with DOGE. The film opens in U.S. theaters October 9.
It is the second Meta moderation call we've logged in days, after the company pulled a Dutch satirist's Ray-Ban glasses video citing "bullying" earlier this week.
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Originally reported by techcrunch.com
Read the original article →Original headline: Meta and YouTube Reverse Ad Rejection of Alex Gibney's Elon Musk Documentary