TikTok bans 3-hour Musk documentary account over 'violations'

A three-hour, 52-minute documentary about Elon Musk has lost its TikTok account for good, and nobody will tell you which rule it broke.

TikTok told the film's producers the suspension came down to the "level of severity with political-policy violations". It added that "some violations trigger immediate suspension", according to the Hollywood Reporter.

TikTok hasn't commented publicly, and it didn't answer Gizmodo's request for clarity either.

Begin with the most apparent one: TikTok doesn’t permit paid political advertising, and the account was clearly advertising the movie. According to THR, one of its posts contained a cheeky intermission advertisement. It is not precisely a campaign advertisement.

However, the Civic and Election Integrity guidelines of TikTok specifically target government and politician accounts. The film’s account is certainly excluded from these. Moreover, its guidelines on harassment allow critical commentary about political figures as long as it does not turn abusive.

Towards the end of last month, all three companies, YouTube, Meta, and TikTok, turned down paid trailers from the movie distributor Bleecker Street due to political material. YouTube and Meta soon rescinded their decision, but TikTok did not.

The social media platform X, owned by SpaceX, took it one step further and refused even to interact with Bleecker Street or run advertisements for the other movies from that distributor.

Oracle holds 15% of the consortium that owns TikTok's US operation, and Oracle's co-founder, Larry Ellison, features in the film through his association with Musk.

HBO has also held a distribution deal for the film since 2023. David Ellison, Larry's son, runs Skydance, which reportedly now controls HBO. He has reportedly promised the film will still air.