Meta and YouTube Reverse Course, Will Run Ads for Alex Gibney's 'Musk' Documentary After All Amid Backlash

Meta and YouTube said Saturday they will accept advertising for director Alex Gibney's upcoming documentary about Elon Musk, reversing course after The Hollywood Reporter reported that a number of major social media platforms had refused to run paid promotions for the film's trailer.

The Hollywood Reporter published a story Friday saying TikTok, Meta, YouTube and X had all declined to run paid ads promoting the trailer for "Musk." When TechCrunch contacted Meta on Saturday, a company spokesperson said the rejection had not been intentional. "This was an error and the ads are being restored," the spokesperson said. Meta did not immediately provide further details about how the mistake occurred.

YouTube also issued a public update Saturday, clarifying that the trailer itself had never been removed from the platform. "The trailer has always been available on YouTube," the company said. It added that the trailer's rejection as a paid advertisement was the result of an automated restriction rather than a deliberate decision. "When submitted as an ad, it was temporarily restricted by our system. Following review the ad has been cleared to run," YouTube said.

X's refusal to run the ads drew less surprise, given that Musk owns the platform and has publicly expressed hostility toward the film's director. Musk recently wrote in a post that "Dogshit is worth more respect than Gibney." TikTok, Meta and YouTube, by contrast, had reportedly rejected the ads under policies restricting "political content," which the platforms apply in varying ways. Meta announced last year that it would stop accepting political advertising in the European Union, while TikTok says it does not run political ads at all. It remains unclear how the promotion of a documentary trailer qualifies as campaign advertising under those rules. Bleecker Street, the film's U.S. distributor, told The Hollywood Reporter it had appealed the rejections. TechCrunch also reached out to TikTok, X and Bleecker Street for comment.

Gibney is among the most prominent documentary filmmakers working today, having directed acclaimed films including "Going Clear," about the Church of Scientology, and "The Inventor," about Elizabeth Holmes and the collapse of Theranos, along with a documentary about Steve Jobs. His latest film, "Musk," premiered at the Venice International Film Festival earlier this month and has received almost universally positive reviews, currently holding a 100% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film is scheduled for a theatrical release in the United States on October 9.

Vulture critic Bilge Ebiri described the nearly four-hour documentary as an in-depth examination of Musk's technology career, his alliance with President Donald Trump and his personal life. Interview subjects include Musk's ex-wife, Justine Musk, and Ashley St. Clair, a former right-wing influencer who recently had a child with Musk and now describes him as "a nuke." Ebiri called the film a "fascinating" character study, and offered a pointed assessment of its broader significance. "As a tale of modern business, it's revealing. And as a warning about our future, it's terrifying," Ebiri wrote.

Despite the film's strong critical reception, The Hollywood Reporter also reported that Universal Pictures had wavered in its commitment to distribute the documentary internationally, reportedly out of concern about angering the Trump administration. Universal subsequently said it will release the documentary in theaters but is still determining its release strategy.

The episode illustrates the difficulty social media platforms face in applying advertising rules consistently, particularly for content connected to politically prominent figures. Automated ad-review systems frequently flag material touching on politics or public figures under broad content policies, and reversals following public scrutiny, as occurred here, are not uncommon. Both Meta and YouTube characterized the rejections as errors of their systems rather than policy decisions, though neither explained in detail why the trailer had triggered the restrictions in the first place.

The reversals also leave open questions about TikTok and X. TikTok had not publicly responded to requests for comment as of Saturday, and X, which Musk owns, has not indicated any change in its stance. Musk has not publicly commented on Meta and YouTube's decisions to run the ads, and neither Musk nor his representatives have publicly addressed the documentary's specific contents beyond his earlier post about its director.

With the film's theatrical release set for October 9 and advertising now expected to run on at least two of the major platforms that initially declined it, "Musk" appears likely to reach a broader audience than the initial ad rejections might have allowed, even as questions continue about how the film's international distribution will ultimately be handled and whether other platforms will follow Meta and YouTube in accepting the trailer as a paid promotion.