An aggressive online promotional plan was charted out for The Apprentice, leading up to its October 18 release in India. But, with two weeks to go, the marketing team has encountered an unexpected hurdle. The biopic, which sees Sebastian Stan step into the shoes of former US President Donald Trump and also stars Jeremy Strong, has found its promotional campaign under fire after Meta’s platforms Facebook and Instagram have blocked all of the film’s reels. Reason? It turns out the parent company has stringent policies on content that touches on political themes, and blocks content that it interprets as political advertising or election-related messaging. 

Despite Ali Abbasi’s directorial venture tracing only Trump’s formative years, its association with the Republican nominee for the presidential race has drawn the attention of Meta’s AI-powered content detection system. That has made the film’s digital promotion tricky. An insider told mid-day, “While we knew The Apprentice would stir conversations, we didn’t expect Meta to block the reels entirely.”