TikTok has banned the official promotional account for Alex Gibney’s highly anticipated documentary on Elon Musk, just ahead of the film’s wider release. The platform did not immediately respond to requests for comment. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film’s distributor, Bleecker Street, was notified on Friday afternoon that a permanent suspension was imminent. Bleecker Street has yet to respond to inquiries from The Verge.
Although the platform has no official connection to Musk, the documentary highlights a text message from Larry Ellison, a part owner of TikTok’s parent company, in which he offers to help Musk finance his acquisition of Twitter.
This escalation follows a period of intense scrutiny last month, when YouTube, Meta, X, and TikTok all faced backlash for refusing to run advertisements for the documentary. While YouTube and Google quickly reversed their decisions, labeling the ban an “error,” both TikTok and X have maintained their stance, refusing to allow paid promotional content for the film.
However, shutting down the documentary’s official account represents a major escalation, wrapped in a layer of irony. Just prior to the suspension, the account had posted a message urging the public to watch the film “before it gets shut down.”