The union warns in
about billionaires' growing control over the media after "Musk" was subjected to "an open censorship campaign" by major technology platforms, not least TikTok:"TikTok notified the film's theatrical distributor, Bleecker Street, the week before its release that advertisements for the film were 'permanently banned.' The ban was only lifted after the film's opening weekend," the WGA writes.
The union's statement notes that TikTok in the US is controlled by Larry Ellison, who financed his son David Ellison's merger of media giants Paramount and Warner Bros. into Skydance, which in turn owns HBO Max and the rights to the film "Musk." And this week, Elon Musk announced that he had invested nearly a billion dollars - close to ten billion kronor - in Skydance.
"A handful of billionaires now own virtually all major media companies, newsrooms and social media platforms. They show how this unchecked concentration of power over news and media threatens democratic debate," the union writes.