It seems that the power of Elon Musk has become a technology play. Yes, the documentary on Elon Musk was suspended and I find that to be a little too convenient.
The advertising account for Musk, was suspended by TikTok over the weekend. The account promoted Alex Gibney’s nearly four-hour documentary about the billionaire behind Tesla, SpaceX and X. The suspension arrived just as distributor Bleecker Street expanded the film into hundreds of North American cinemas.
According to reports, TikTok described the action as a permanent suspension connected to violations of its political-content policies. So it seems that Tik Tok could be described as biased and the platform that is open to all kinds of content as is promoted. Of course, Bleecker Street took action by appealing the decision. But the story did not end there. And yes, TikTok later restored the account and said an error caused the suspension. TechCrunch
Ah yes, an error.
A rather small word for something that temporarily removed an entire promotional account during a film’s most important release weekend. The documentary examines Musk’s rise, his companies and the enormous political and cultural influence he now carries. Gibney is certainly no stranger to difficult subjects. His previous work includes documentaries about Scientology, Enron and Elizabeth Holmes. Basically, he does not spend much time making films about people who collect stamps and mind their own business. So Musk, being Musk, dismissed the documentary as a “hit piece” and repeatedly attacked Gibney online. A trait we are all too familiar with. The Associated Press reported that he had apparently not watched the film when he made those comments. Associated Press
But the TikTok suspension forms part of a bigger problem surrounding the film.
Bleecker Street previously struggled to place paid advertisements for Musk across TikTok, YouTube, Meta and X. YouTube and Meta eventually allowed the advertising, with both companies saying their systems had restricted it by mistake or because they identified it as political content.
But here’s the kicker. X, which Musk owns, has continued refusing the ads.
Now I agree that private platforms can establish rules for the advertising they accept. And a film that examines a politically active billionaire will naturally create complications for automated systems trying to decide whether something counts as entertainment, journalism or political advertising.
But here’s where things become uncomfortable.
These platforms do not simply provide somewhere to display an advert. They control how people discover films, news and conversations. So when an account disappears, even temporarily, the decision affects what millions of people see. And if the platform explains everything as an error afterwards, users must simply trust that nobody made a deliberate choice. And that, I think, requires quite a lot of faith in technology companies. I don’t know about you, but recent history has not exactly encouraged that sort of blind confidence.
Yes, TikTok restored the account, but it does not erase the questions created by the suspension. What triggered the system? Which part of the campaign violated the rules? Would TikTok have corrected the mistake without media attention? And how many smaller films or creators experience similar problems without enough influence to make the platform respond?
For me, those questions matter more than whether somebody at TikTok pressed the wrong button. The incident also demonstrates how difficult it has become to separate technology, politics and entertainment. And when I say entertainment, we’re talking about everything from singing and dancing to X-rated stuff.
Musk owns X. His companies influence transport, communication and space exploration. We have seen the man regularly participating in political conversations. So a documentary about him may qualify as entertainment, but pretending that it contains no political relevance would be rather silly.
Still, political relevance should not automatically prevent a film from advertising its existence. The irony here is that removing the account may have promoted the documentary more effectively than TikTok ever could. People who had never heard of Musk are now wondering what the film contains and why its advertising caused such a problem. So the Google searches are probably going through the roof.
You see, nothing creates curiosity quite like telling the internet that something has disappeared. TikTok says the suspension resulted from an error, and without evidence of deliberate interference, that explanation remains the verified one. But the incident still offers a useful reminder that technology platforms have become the doors through which much of our culture now passes. They can open those doors, close them and occasionally insist that they locked one by accident.
The Musk account is back, but the questions surrounding its disappearance are yet to be answered.
