Elon Musk shared The Daily Wire’s controversial documentary “What Is A Woman?” on Twitter early Friday, following earlier restrictions placed by his platform that limited its visibility. The film was posted on Twitter for free viewing on Thursday night to commemorate the one-year anniversary of its release and to continue the discussion on transgender issues. Despite labeling the film as “hateful conduct” for two instances of perceived “misgendering,” Musk stated that this action was a mistake and later promoted the film to his 140 million followers, writing, “Every parent should watch this.”
Twitter removed its visibility restriction on “What is a Woman?” early Friday, enabling users to like and retweet the documentary. Despite earlier hindrances, the tweet promoting the film had amassed over 1 million views within three hours and The Daily Wire’s original post had been viewed over 20 million times and retweeted nearly 40,000 times by Friday morning.
The controversy surrounding the film related to a father using feminine pronouns for his daughter who identifies as transgender and a store owner addressing a male city councilman who identifies as female with masculine pronouns. Musk vowed to allow the film to be shown without the “hateful conduct” label, advocating for free speech while acknowledging his personal tendency to use preferred pronouns out of respect.
Despite Musk’s pledge, the film began airing with restrictions, to which Daily Wire Co-CEO Jeremy Boreing responded, “Even after Elon Musk said Twitter’s threat to label What Is A Woman ‘hateful conduct’ and to throttle the film’s reach was a mistake, Twitter did that very thing instantly upon the film going live.” However, Musk reassured that the issue would be rectified, tweeting, “Will be fixed tomorrow.”
The documentary, which debuted last summer, had a significant cultural impact despite being largely ignored by mainstream media critics. It quickly became the most watched home movie, according to Rotten Tomatoes, which also reflected a 97% audience rating. The film is widely recognized for sparking a movement against harmful effects of sex change procedures on minors, leading to the ban of such surgeries in at least a dozen states following its release.