Images have been going around online that claim to show Tesla cars defaced with swastikas, following Elon Musk's actions at Trump's inauguration rally, where he performed a gesture that was likened to a Nazi salute.
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00:00Are Tesla owners at risk following the Musk controversy?
00:08A photo of a white Tesla parked in Vienna and defaced with a large red swastika is doing
00:14the rounds on social media. It's shared with captions such as this one on X,
00:19which suggests that Tesla owners and their cars are likely to be targeted following the recent,
00:24highly controversial actions of Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
00:28This post on Reddit similarly claims that the car in the photo has been
00:31upgraded to fit with Musk, hinting that the vandalism took place recently,
00:36and this post on X shows an apparent Tesla owner concerned about driving his car in Austria.
00:42Musk shocked the world when he made two gestures at US President Donald Trump's inauguration rally,
00:47which were likened to a Nazi salute. A reverse image search shows us
00:51that this particular photo isn't anything to do with the recent backlash against Musk.
00:56It was taken in November 2023 and published as part of a story about a series of vandalism
01:01attacks in Vienna, according to news reports at the time. Nevertheless, it is true that Tesla
01:07stores and showrooms have been defaced following Musk's actions at Trump's inauguration.
01:12In recent weeks, reports have emerged of vandals spraying swastikas and anti-fascist
01:17slogans at a Tesla building in The Hague, while near Berlin, an image of Musk's gesture
01:22and the word Heil was projected onto the wall of a Tesla factory. There are also seemingly more
01:28abusable reports of Tesla's belonging to individuals in the US being defaced, as well as
01:33threats to their owners. Aside from vandalism, Tesla has seen its sales slump across Europe
01:39following Musk's actions. Some have linked the company's losses to Musk's embrace of far-right
01:44political figures and views, his amplification of conspiracy theories and misinformation on
01:49social media, and his close alliance with Trump.