It’s been called a Nazi salute, a moment of enthusiasm, an awkward gesture, an unintentional social gaffe, and a deliberate act.
But whatever billionaire Elon Musk’s intentions were when he thrust his arm out at an upward angle during U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration Monday, a lot of people aren’t having it. And they’re leaving his social media platform, X, or banning links to the platform on Reddit in droves.
A moderator for a subreddit of Calgary Flames fans announced Tuesday that the group “enacted a ban on Twitter links effective immediately.” The Winnipeg Jets subreddit announced the same to its 76,000 members.
“This decision comes in response to Elon Musk’s recent actions, which have resulted in X no longer being a safe or reliable platform for users,” wrote the group’s moderators.
And on Wednesday, the subreddit for the Toronto Maple Leafs followed suit, emphasizing to its 358,000 members that “we, as a subreddit, do not condone Nazism in any form.”
“This ban is an attempt to curb the patronage to a website that has become diametrically opposed to our community values.”
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk took the stage at an inaugural event for U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday, pumping his fists and then making what some critics said appeared to be a fascist salute as he thanked the crowd. Some supporters are dismissing those claims, saying that Musk was merely gesturing ‘from my heart to you.’ Musk was tapped by Trump to co-lead an advisory group aimed at carrying out dramatic cuts to the U.S. government, dubbed DOGE.
This all comes after Musk gave a short speech Monday at the Capital One Arena in Washington. Biting his bottom lip, he thumped his right hand over his heart, fingers spread wide, then extended his right arm out, emphatically, at an upward angle, palm down and fingers together. Then he turned and repeated the gesture to the crowd behind him.
Many social media users noticed that the gesture looked like a Nazi salute. Musk has only fanned the flames of suspicion by not explicitly denying those claims in a dozen posts since, though he did make light of the criticism and lashed out at people making that interpretation.
“The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired,” Musk posted on X several hours after he left the stage.
Since Musk bought Twitter, now called X, the self-described “free speech absolutist” has faced criticism from hate-speech watchdogs, who say he’s allowed extremist, dangerous and antisemitic comments to flourish on the social media platform.
An ‘extension of his political cause’
BBC reports that over 100 Reddit groups have since banned links to X. Several Canadian groups, like the Victoria, B.C., subreddit with 140,000 members, have posted petitions considering a ban. “We don’t need to support a racist,” wrote one user, responding to the Victoria group’s proposal.
The subreddit for London, Ont., announced Tuesday it would be banning all links to X, explaining to its 112,000 members, “We want to keep our space positive and inclusive, and we don’t support platforms that promote hateful views.”
The Formula 1 subreddit, with 4.8 million members, announced Wednesday that it was banning all X content. A proposal to ban X links by the Liverpool FC subreddit had nearly 40,000 upvotes at the time of publication, and moderators for the Chicago Bears group said they were discussing a “plan of action” after a similar proposal had 22,000 upvotes.
In France on Monday, more than 80 associations, including human rights, environmental and press freedom groups, left X, though most didn’t specify the trigger. Several universities and schools there left X, too, as well as national and local newspapers on various sides of the political spectrum.
French Newspaper Le Monde announced it was quitting X in an editorial posted Monday, in which director Jérôme Fenoglio explained that Musk “has transformed it into an extension of his political cause, a form of libertarianism increasingly close to the far-right.”
“The intensification of Musk’s activism, the formalization of his position within the Trump power apparatus and the increasing toxicity of the exchanges led us to come to the conclusion that the usefulness of our presence weighs less than the many suffered side effects.”
Extremists celebrate
Many right-wing extremists celebrated Musk’s gesture online. Like a chapter of the white nationalist group White Lives Matter, which wrote on Telegram, “The White Flame will rise again.” The leader of the neo-Nazi group Blood Tribe wrote, “I don’t care if this was a mistake. I’m going to enjoy the tears over it,” according to Rolling Stone.
Musk’s representative in Italy, Andrea Stroppa, published the photo on X with the words: “Roman Empire is back, starting with the Roman salute,” according to the news agency ANSA, as reported by the Associated Press.
The straight-arm greeting, known as the Roman salute in Italy, was officially adopted in 1925 by the dictator Benito Mussolini’s fascist regime. It’s banned in the country, though it is rarely enforced.
Stroppa later deleted the post, writing that Musk “has autism” and was simply expressing his emotions, and denied he was supporting fascism.
As It Happens6:47Reporter who covers Elon Musk says there’s no question he gave a Nazi salute
Elon Musk has denied he made two Nazi salutes on stage at U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration. But Judd Legum says that’s absolutely what he did. Legum, who runs the newsletter Musk Watch, says it’s important to consider the billionaire Trump ally’s hand gesture in the context of his other actions. He spoke to As It Happens host Nil Köksal.
A ‘socially awkward autistic man’s wave’
Stroppa also retweeted a post by historian Aaron Astor that said, “This gesture is not a Nazi salute. This is a socially awkward autistic man’s wave to the crowd where he says, ‘My heart goes out to you.'”
These statements and others like it have sent waves throughout the autistic community, in online posts and on social media, where many took issue with the characterization. One person wrote on Medium that being autistic doesn’t mean Musk “deserves a pass.”
“Whilst autistic people can be awkward, timid, say the wrong things, and be socially inept, make no mistake that Elon Musk is the most privileged autistic person in the world,” wrote contributor Shamiha Said.
In his 2021 opening monologue on Saturday Night Live, Musk told the audience he was “the first person with Asperger’s [syndrome] to host SNL. At least the first to admit it,” using the term for a diagnosis that’s no longer used in the medical community and has since been folded into the broader category of autism spectrum disorder.
Bruno Marchand told reporters it’s important to reject hate days after Elon Musk made a gesture that drew online comparisons to a Nazi salute.
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