TikTok removed the account associated with Alex Gibney’s Musk documentary from its platform shortly before the film’s broader theatrical rollout. The distributor, Bleecker Street, received notification of a permanent suspension on Friday afternoon, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The action marked an escalation in tensions between the streaming platform and the film’s promotional efforts. Earlier last month, TikTok and several other major platforms—including YouTube, Meta, and X—had rejected paid advertisements for the documentary. YouTube and Meta reversed their ad rejections, characterizing the decisions as errors, but TikTok and X maintained their advertising restrictions.
TikTok’s move to ban the account entirely drew attention partly due to the film’s content. While TikTok has no formal connection to Elon Musk, billionaire Larry Ellison, a part owner of TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, appears in the documentary through a text message offering financial assistance for Musk’s acquisition of X.
The removal proved short-lived, however. On October 18th, TikTok’s US spokesperson confirmed to The Verge that the account had been restored after the company determined the ban resulted from an error. The documentary account had posted content moments before its removal, noting that users should view the film “before it gets shut down”—a prediction that proved ironically prescient, albeit temporarily.
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