TikTok allowed paid advertisements for the documentary “Melania,” featuring President Donald Trump, to reach hundreds of thousands of users in Europe, while rejecting ads for a documentary about Elon Musk over political-content violations, according to company records and reporting by The Hollywood Reporter.
TikTok’s public Commercial Content Library does not include U.S. ads, so I could only look up European advertising records. The company did not respond to multiple questions I emailed about whether paid “Melania” ads also ran in the United States or why its political advertising policy treated the two documentaries differently.
That policy prohibits ads “Referencing, promoting, or opposing: Current executive, legislative, or judicial public officials.”
Records I reviewed show that paid ads for “Melania,” the Amazon MGM Studios documentary about first lady Melania Trump, ran in Portugal and Austria in January and February.
In Austria, Cinepromotion und Filmmarketing Ges.m.b.H. ran an ad from Jan. 27-30 featuring promotional imagery of the first lady and video of President Trump. TikTok reported it reached between 100,000 and 200,000 unique users.
In Portugal, NOS Lusomundo Audiovisuais ran an ad from Jan. 21 through Feb. 1 that TikTok said between 300,000 and 400,000 unique users viewed. It also included footage of Donald and Melania Trump.
Another Portuguese ad ran Jan. 30. Its summary listed between zero and 1,000 unique users, and its geographic breakdown reported 593,000 in reach.
All three ads were classified under “News & Entertainment.”
TikTok’s “Politics, Governments, and Elections” advertising policy, last updated in October 2025 and archived Jan. 17, 2026, was in effect when the ads ran. It includes an exception allowing “incidental references to members of royal families” in certain entertainment advertisements but does not mention a comparable exception for acting U.S. presidents.
The Hollywood Reporter reported that TikTok repeatedly rejected promotional materials for “Musk,” including its trailer, and suspended the film’s advertising account Oct. 16 over political-content violations. TikTok reinstated the account Oct. 18, calling the suspension an error, but continued to reject paid advertising for the trailer. The documentary, directed by Alex Gibney, examines Musk’s political activities and relationship with the Trump administration.
TikTok’s U.S. ownership structure changed in January, when Beijing-based ByteDance finalized the creation of a majority American-owned joint venture responsible for securing U.S. user data and its recommendation algorithm.
Reuters reported that Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX each acquired a 15% stake in the venture. ByteDance retained 19.9%, with other investors holding the remaining 35.1%.
Oracle was co-founded by Larry Ellison, who donated about $45 million to a political nonprofit supporting Trump’s 2024 campaign, according to The Wall Street Journal. Ellison also hosted a fundraiser for Trump in 2020, although he did not attend.
Ellison pledged $1 billion in support of Musk’s 2022 acquisition of Twitter, Fortune reported. The “Musk” documentary shows a text message from Ellison offering to help finance the deal, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
ByteDance remains the parent company of TikTok’s operations outside the U.S., including Europe.
According to the U.S. joint venture’s website, TikTok’s global U.S. entities manage commercial activities, including advertising and marketing, and the joint venture oversees data protection, algorithm security and trust and safety. It’s unclear which entity made the advertising decisions involving the two documentaries.
TikTok’s Commercial Content Library contains searchable records for ads placed in Europe, including who paid for them, when they ran, whom they targeted and how many users they reached.
The European Union’s Digital Services Act requires TikTok and other major platforms to make their advertising records public, but no similar federal requirement exists in the U.S.
On Oct. 18, I asked TikTok to explain its treatment of both films, U.S. advertising records, spending and enforcement across countries. TikTok, Amazon MGM Studios and “Musk” distributor Bleecker Street did not respond by my Oct. 21 deadline, despite multiple follow-up emails.
Last Updated on October 22, 2026 by Joe Douglass
