Latest news with #TheSwasticar
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
X has fewer EU users than when Elon Musk took over, report says
X has a lower European Union active user base now than it did when Elon Musk took over the social media platform, according to a new report. A Social Media Today analysis of a transparency report released by X found the platform has lost 10.5 million users since August. The heaviest losses were in France, Poland, Germany and Spain, respectively. Before Musk acquired Twitter in 2022, then rebranded it as X, the platform had more than 100 million European users. Mashable said its active user base is now under 95 million and is likely declining in the United Kingdom as well. The EU's Digital Services Act requires tech companies to provide content moderation transparency reports sharing internal data those companies are not required to share in other places. Musk admitted in March 2023 that X had declined in value from $44 billion to around $20 billion since he bought it in October 2022, though some former advertisers did appear to return when President Trump, with financial backing from Musk, was reelected in November. He claims that worldwide, X has 600 million active users globally and has gained popularity in some areas. Social Media Today questions Musk's math based on what they're seeing in Europe. The 53-year-old entrepreneur has since experienced a worldwide backlash to his company's at home and abroad after he became more active in right-wing politics. Images of Musk simulating what appeared to be a Nazi salute at a Trump inauguration rally have gone viral. Though the X owner insists that's not what he was doing, days later he appeared via video at a rally for Germany's far right AfD party. His Tesla automobile company has been dubbed the maker of 'The Swasticar.' Musk has also been accused of promoting varying versions of the Great Replacement Theory — suggesting immigrants are taking power from nativists in the U.S. and elsewhere. The Anti-Defamation League notes that premise 'once largely relegated to white supremacist rhetoric' has worked its way into the mainstream. Musk's Tesla car dealerships have been targeted by activists who've vandalized cars and buildings with paint and lit some vehicles on fire. The Trump administration has referred to those demonstrations as acts of terror.
New York Times
06-04-2025
- Automotive
- New York Times
‘0 to 1939 in 3 seconds': Why Anti-Elon Musk Satire Is Flourishing in Britain
The mischievous posters began appearing all over London in the past two months. On the side of an East London bus stop, one of them shows Elon Musk, the world's richest man, emerging from a Tesla's roof with his hand pointing upward in a straight-armed salute. 'Goes from 0 to 1939 in 3 seconds,' the ad reads. 'Tesla. The Swasticar.' Another mock ad shows Mr. Musk and President Trump in front of a red Tesla with the words: 'Now With White Power Steering.' In North London, a fake movie billboard blares: 'The Fast and the Führer,' with a picture of Mr. Musk saluting beside a Tesla with a DOGE license plate, a reference to the budget-slashing federal agency he currently leads on behalf of Mr. Trump. 'Parental Guidance,' warns the billboard, put up by a group calling themselves Everyone Hates Elon. 'Tesla's CEO is a far-right activist. Don't give him your money.' Across the British capital and in several European cities, Mr. Musk's signature business has become the target of the same kind of political anger that has fueled vandalism of Tesla cars in the United States and sometimes violent protests at his dealerships. There have been some instances of unruly protests and vandalism in Europe. But much of the anti-Musk sentiment has taken the form of political satire, of the kind that has flourished in Britain since at least the 18th century. Just outside Berlin, a group called the Center for Political Beauty used high-power lights to project the word 'Heil' onto the side of a Tesla factory so that it read 'Heil Tesla,' along with a picture of Mr. Musk saluting during a speech in Washington. In Italy, street art depicts Elon Musk taking off a mask to show Adolf Hitler's face underneath. The words 'Elon Mask' appear above the picture. 'There's never been a target exactly like this,' said John Gorenfeld, a software engineer who helped start a London-based group called 'Takedown Tesla.' The group has organized protests of several dozen people for the past several weeks. They hold posters along freeways that say 'Honk if you hate Elon.' And they have printed bumper stickers for Tesla owners with phrases like 'Don't make the same mistake' and 'Pre-2020 Model.' 'Nobody who is that rich and powerful has behaved that outrageously,' Mr. Gorenfeld said. 'There's something campy and ridiculous about Musk's brand of toxicity. And it opens up a real space to ridicule.' In Europe, Mr. Musk is not just a faraway example of American wealth and power. Over the last year, he has become a frequent political meddler, often weighing in on behalf of far-right causes on X, his social media platform, where he has 218 million followers. In Britain, Mr. Musk is known for sharing misinformation about a child rape scandal and calling for Prime Minister Keir Starmer to be jailed. He has called for the release of Tommy Robinson, a far-right, anti-immigrant agitator who is in prison for contempt of court. And he criticized the seven-year sentence of a neo-Nazi who incited and took part in anti-immigrant riots last summer. The small anti-Musk groups that have popped up around Europe have the same basic goal: Tank Tesla's stock price and sales as a way of sending a message to Mr. Musk and other super-wealthy people who are thinking of promoting far-right politics around the world. Some groups declined to be interviewed about their actions, citing concern about becoming a target of Mr. Musk's ire on social media. But others were more open about their aims. 'The point of this is to show Musk and other billionaires that they are vulnerable and can't act with impunity,' said Ben Stewart, a founder of a British satirical activist group called Led by Donkeys, which worked with the Center for Political Beauty to project Mr. Musk's image on the Berlin factory. 'We have to harness global public opinion to push back.' Organizers think it's working. Tesla's stock price has almost halved since its high in December, around the same time that Mr. Musk began his high-profile role overseeing the firing of government workers and slashing federal agency budgets. This week, Tesla reported a 13 percent drop in sales compared with a year ago. 'What they're trying to do is put massive pressure on me, and Tesla I guess, to you know, I don't know, stop doing this,' Mr. Musk said last week in Wisconsin where he was campaigning for a state supreme court candidate. And yet, he added with a shrug, 'Long term, I think Tesla stock's going to do fine, so maybe it's a buying opportunity.' The protesters who spoke about their aims said they wanted to challenge Mr. Musk's influence without resorting to the vandalism that the billionaire has called out in the United States as 'coordinated violence against a peaceful company.' Theodora Sutcliffe, a London resident who helped organize Tesla Takedown, said none of the people she works with are participating in violence. Instead, they have sought to find other ways to capture public attention. At one of their protests, a wavy, 20-foot balloon man who vaguely resembled Mr. Musk saluted into the air. At other times, Ms. Sutcliffe and her fellow protesters have left fliers on the windshields of Tesla cars. 'Once upon a time, Teslas were cool,' one flier says. 'Now, sadly, that's not the case. Driving a Tesla and using Tesla chargers means you're propping up Elon Musk, a man who promotes climate deniers and fossil-fuel junkies.' 'If you want to go viral in the U.K., you have to be smart, I think,' Ms. Sutcliffe said. 'That's our sense of humor normally.' The anti-Musk efforts in Berlin were led by Philipp Ruch, the artistic director for the Center for Political Beauty, a German activist group. In an interview, he said that much of the anger at Mr. Musk in Germany stems from the billionaire's support for the country's far-right party, the Alternative for Germany. 'The first day that the administration comes in, he does the Hitler salute,' Mr. Ruch said. 'This is something we couldn't tolerate, politically and artistically.' Mr. Ruch performs many of his protests by 'overwriting' one image with another. At the Tesla dealership, he used lights to superimpose his words and images of Mr. Musk to create a new artistic creation. (He said the police are now investigating his efforts, which were visible for about an hour.) Pictures of the building were spread widely on social media. Other efforts have gone viral, too. There are mock car air fresheners called 'Musk-B-Gone' that promise to cover 'the stench of fascism.' And cardboard cutouts of Mr. Musk and Mr. Trump, thanking Tesla owners for their support when they top up their cars at the company's supercharger lots. 'There are some people who are coming at Musk as though he's some sort of passive agent of Trump and that really, this is just another way of getting to Trump,' said Ms. Sutcliffe. 'There's other people who perceive Musk as somebody who's a unique type of threat that we really haven't seen before in terms of his economic control and control of the information space.'
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Multiple Teslas vandalized with swastikas at California dealership
Police in San Diego County are searching for vandals who targeted a California Tesla dealership in Encinitas. 'Multiple cars were found with swastikas spray-painted on them,' the San Diego County Sheriff's Office announced Monday. 'In addition, several windows of the dealership building had also been spray-painted with swastikas and profanity.' Officers on patrol said they spotted the damaged vehicles around 5 a.m. Crime Stoppers is offering a $1,000 maximum reward for information leading to an arrest. Teslas, Tesla dealerships and Tesla charging stations are being targeted nationwide to protest the company's owner, billionaire Trump administration adviser Elon Musk. While speaking at a Trump inauguration event in January, Musk twice made a gesture similar to a Nazi salute. He's also spread right-wing conspiracy theories and aligned himself with Germany's far-right AfD party. Some Tesla owners have gotten rid of their cars or disguised them to look like another brand of automobile to separate themselves from Musk's politics. The 53-year-old entrepreneur spent nearly $300 million to put Trump and his allies in power in the 2024 election. Trump in turn let Musk form an agency meant to cut government spending. He also held a press event last week promoting Tesla automobiles in front of the White House and warning anyone caught damaging Musk's products 'We're going to catch you and you're going to go through Hell.' Posters featuring Musk and calling Teslas 'The Swasticar' have popped up around London in recent weeks. Musk has laughed off suggestions that he's a Nazi. _____
Buzz Feed
17-03-2025
- Business
- Buzz Feed
These Anti-Elon Ads Calling Teslas A "Swasticar" With "White Power Steering" Are Going Absolutely Viral
I'm sure I don't need to tell you that billionaire Elon Musk's role in the Trump administration has faced criticism from day one. Between his role in the mass firing of federal employees as the apparent figurehead of the Department of Government Efficiency (aka DOGE), to being accused of performing a Nazi salute at Trump's inauguration, and largely being referred to as the real person pulling Trump's puppet strings, he's been quite the controversial figure. So controversial that many are currently boycotting Elon's businesses, including Tesla and X (formerly known as Twitter)... ...which has led to Tesla's stock absolutely PLUNGING. And despite President Donald Trump's best efforts as a part-time Tesla car salesman, the public is still hitting back. Recently, anti-Elon ads have been popping up in the streets of London. "X Marks The Rot," one ad reads, featuring his social platform X's logo. "Delete your account." whoever is doing this campaign in London well bloody done 👍 — dave ❄️ 🥕 🧻 (@mrdavemacleod) March 12, 2025 Twitter: @mrdavemacleod Other ads take shots at Tesla. This one illustrates Elon doing his now infamous salute from what is being labeled as a "Swasticar." The ad reads: "Goes from 0 to 1939 in 3 seconds." A fake Tesla ad has been spotted in East London: 'The Swasticar' — Pop Crave (@PopCrave) February 27, 2025 Twitter: @PopCrave There's also this one about "White Power Steering" amenities. This is gold 🥇Spotted in London. 👏 — Devin Duke (@sirDukeDevin) March 13, 2025 Twitter: @sirDukeDevin As well as a fake Tesla movie poster titled The Fast and the Führer. London ❤️ — Zentrum für Politische Schönheit (@politicalbeauty) March 12, 2025 Twitter: @politicalbeauty There's truly no shortage. 🚨 Elon Musk's PR Nightmare Just Went Global—London Ads Are Telling People to Ditch X The anti-Musk campaign is now plastered across London, and it's not pulling any punches: 🟥 'X - DELETE YOUR ACCOUNT. If the bar lets Nazis in, it's a Nazi bar.' The world is done pretending… — Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) March 13, 2025 Twitter: @allenanalysis
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Meet Everyone Hates Elon, the U.K.-Based Collective Attempting to Take Down Musk: 'Let's Make Billionaires Losers Again'
Last week, a poster was put up at a bus stop in east London. 'Goes from 0 to 1939 in 3 seconds,' the image says, with a picture of Elon Musk in a Tesla. Below that, it reads: 'The Swasticar.' As of the time of writing, a TikTok of the poster being installed has more than 10 million views with 1.1 million likes. The group responsible for this viral moment is the U.K.-based collective Everyone Hates Elon. 'This is a real moment where people have had enough of billionaires getting involved in our politics,' one of the group's spokespeople says in an anonymous interview with The Hollywood Reporter. 'So how do you hurt the richest man in the world?' More from The Hollywood Reporter BBC Boss Isn't "Ruling Out" Reinstating Gaza Doc, Admits "Unanswered Questions Weren't Followed Up" Series Mania Unveils Buyers Upfront Lineup BritBox U.S. Now Tops 4 Million Subscribers, BBC Boss Tim Davie Says EHE is a currently just a handful of people working to 'piss off Elon Musk one small action at a time.' It all began in January, when a group of friends were decidedly fed up with Musk, founder of Tesla, owner of X and Donald Trump's head of department for government efficiency (DOGE), who was tweeting at the time: 'Free Tommy Robinson!' (Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is a far-right activist and anti-Islam campaigner in the U.K., currently serving jail time for publicly repeating false accusations against a teenage Syrian refugee.) In addition to this, Musk has continuously attacked British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in relation to an infamous U.K. grooming scandal, making confusing and unsubstantiated claims. He said Starmer, who ran the country's Crime Prosecution Service from 2008-13 while the grooming gangs were investigated, is 'deeply complicit in the mass rapes in exchange for votes' and called one of Starmer's ministers, Jess Phillips, a 'genocide rape apologist' for rejecting a request that the government lead a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation (Phillips later said a local inquiry was more effective at prompting change). Musk's fanning of political flames in Europe has continued in recent weeks, posting content such as 'From MAGA to MEGA: Make Europe Great Again!' and endorsing Germany and Britain's far-right parties. '[Musk] is the richest person in the world,' EHE says. 'He's got $200 billion richer last year while nurses in this country have to use food banks. And he thinks he's got a right to talk about what British people need or want.' Then Trump was inaugurated and Musk made what resembled a Nazi salute in front of the entire world. This gave EHE the momentum they needed. 'OK, Elon, if you're going to show the world who you are, let's show the world who Tesla really is,' the group adds, explaining that the car company's business is where the public can best vote against the tech mogul. This is when the campaign really started to take off. Millions of social media likes and one endorsement from Stephen King later, EHE's fundraiser, the People Versus Elon, is on track to make £150,000 ($190,000) by next year thanks to regular donors. People versus Elon is set up so that ordinary folk can donate as little as one penny every time Musk posts on X (which is around 2,000 times a month). The group is also selling 'Don't Buy a Swasticar' stickers. EHE says it is donating this money to causes Musk 'hates,' predominantly those supporting trans people, migrants, refugees as well as groups tackling racism and fascism in the U.K. Crucially, EHE sees these small donations as an enormous act of resistance: 'There's something really powerful about the idea of small actions funded by small donations taking on the world's richest man. There is a global movement of people who won't stand for his fascism and nonsense.' THR spoke to one of the people behind Everyone Hates Elon, discussing Europe's resistance to what's happening in the States, taking on furious Tesla buyers and giving the world the agency to stand up to Musk's politics: 'If we can do anything to make billionaires losers again, that would be amazing. … He's a gruesome man, and we all need to come together to stop him having this incredible influence over all of our lives.' Are you comfortable telling me where you're based and how many of you there are? We're spread around the U.K. … There's just a handful of us, a very small group of friends. We've been doing different campaigns together for a couple years now. And at the beginning of this year, we saw Elon Musk sticking his oar in and demanding new elections in the U.K., campaigning to free Tommy Robinson from prison. We just got really angry about it. We thought a billionaire shouldn't get to interfere in our democracy just because he owns Twitter. And then it escalated after he did that salute at Donald Trump's inauguration. Was that salute the catalyst in kickstarting your campaign? Well, we were already wanting to do something because of him getting involved in British politics and demanding elections in the U.K. He tweeted, 'Free Tommy Robinson' [and] he's been tweeting, 'Make Europe Great Again.' He's the richest person in the world. He's got $200 billion richer last year while nurses in this country have to use food banks. And he thinks he's got a right to talk about what British people need or want. We don't think he knows anything about the U.K. or about where we live. So initially, we started conversations at the beginning of January and it was more about that, but it was the salute that was the catalyst to start doing something. We basically launched after that. We called the [fundraiser] People Versus Elon, where people can pledge a penny every time he tweets and we donate the money to causes he hates. We're about to hit 1000 people pledging on that, and that's going to lead to around £150,000 ($190,000) raised this year so far. And it's just kind of exploded from there. You've already raised £150,000? We will have raised that by next year, because it's all regular donors. We've raised about £12,000 ($15,275) in the first month. We've had lots of people giving small amounts. We'd love to fund many more of these actions through small donations from ordinary people. Because I think there's something really powerful about the idea of small actions funded by small donations taking on the world's richest man. What kind of causes are you donating to — which are the ones you've highlighted as causes that Elon really hates? We're working with a group called Everyday Racism and we're working with two refugee groups. One of them is called Rainbow Migration, which, even just as a name, is the kind of thing he would absolutely hate. And then Women for Refugee Women, a group supporting women refugees, and a group supporting queer refugees, LGBTQI+ refugees. Also Hope Not Hate, who tackle far-right extremism in the U.K. So groups that support trans people, migrants and refugees, groups that tackle racism and hate in the U.K. Have you noticed any high-profile or famous figures supporting your cause? Stephen King posted our poster the other day on Bluesky, which was pretty amazing to see. The Guilty Feminist did a podcast about our People Versus Elon campaign. A few comedians have posted, too. Can I ask, are you in your 20s, 30s? I'd rather not say. Not a problem. So tell me about how the 'Swasticar' poster came to be. It's getting you some momentum. So we saw Elon Musk doing that salute at Donald Trump's inauguration. We felt like we had to do something. We wanted to call it out and call out his hypocrisy. It's one of these situations where we're sitting here thinking, how do you hurt the richest man in the world? His wealth mostly comes from Tesla. Of course, his other wealth comes from SpaceX, where there's government contracts and things like that. But Tesla is something that the public votes on. Every time someone buys a Tesla, they're voting for Elon Musk and what he stands for. He showed the world what he stood for when he stood up at Donald Trump's inauguration. And we think everybody should know what he stands for and should stand against that by not buying Teslas. So we were trying to think about creative ways to do that and to make that point. Firstly, we went to a Tesla showroom with a cardboard cutout of him doing the salute, and stood in front of customers who were getting ready to buy a Tesla. One of them got really angry at us and basically told us to fuck off. And that video got a couple million views on TikTok. Then the other one was … OK, Elon, if you're going to show the world who you are, let's show the world who Tesla really is, and obviously he wants to make the parallels to Nazi Germany with that salute. So he got us half the way there. It's coincided at a time where Tesla's sales in Europe have plummeted — for a number of different reasons. But European political leaders are trying to distance themselves from the Trump-Musk regime in the U.S. Do you think there's more resistance to Elon Musk over here? I think there's resistance all over the world. Honestly, when we started this, we thought we were going to be doing a campaign about Elon Musk getting involved in U.K. politics and standing against that. And what we found, actually, is that people all over the world have been showing their support. I can see who is looking at our content on our social media channels. We've been selling 'Don't Buy a Swasticar' stickers. Over half the orders have come from around the world, not just Europe, but from the U.S., from Canada, Australia. People have been sending messages of support. So I think it is true that Europe really stands against Musk and everything he represents. But I also think there is a global movement of people who won't stand for his fascism and nonsense. What is the end goal for Everyone Hates Elon? What are you capable of doing? I think we want to show that ordinary people can fight back against billionaire power and annoy Elon Musk one small action at a time. If we can do anything to make billionaires losers again, that would be amazing. More seriously, I think we're fed up with billionaires interfering in our politics, and we're calling it out. And I think every single person can do something. I think one of the big messages we're getting from people, and one of the things we were feeling in January, is that it can feel really powerless when you read the news about what Elon Musk is doing. You think, how does someone like me stand up to someone so wealthy? We want to show people that it's not just us taking actions. We want to find ways to give other people a chance to resist. So if they donate, we'll send them a PDF of the poster. We're selling stickers, we're giving people ways to show people they have agency and power. Are you worried at all about law enforcement when it comes to your protesting? No comment on that one. Have you been looking on at what's happening in the States in horror? Anybody who has gotten involved with the campaign, who's given money, who has shared the videos online, who has watched the TikToks — all of those interactions come from this feeling of disgust and horror about what's happening and who Elon Musk is and what he represents. This is a man who will tweet pictures of an empty office complaining that there's no one there on a Monday while his ex-partner [singer Grimes] goes viral for saying [in now-deleted X posts] he's not listening to her as she's asking him to pay medical bills for their child, and he's not responding so she's having to do it publicly. He's a gruesome man, and we all need to come together to stop him having this incredible influence over all of our lives. Wouldn't it be amazing if we didn't have to ever think about him ever again? That's the goal. A world where we don't have to ever think about Elon Musk ever again. It would be wonderful. You've accrued millions of views on TikTok and Instagram. Are you encouraged by the reaction so far? We didn't have any plans to even necessarily do what we're doing this long. We just thought, let's try something out and see how it goes. But the response has been absolutely incredible and has blown us away. That tells us we're not alone. There's so many people who've been feeling what we've been feeling this past couple of months and that gives us the strength and resolve to keep going. Is the idea to expand your group globally? I would absolutely love to get there. I think we've got a long way to go. I'd love it if people can keep giving to our crowdfunder and we can keep pissing Elon Musk off one small action at a time. I don't want to sound like a Premier League [soccer player] talking about focusing on the next game, but that's kind of how it feels. This is a real moment where people have had enough of billionaires getting involved in our politics and and we'd love to find ways to grow this movement. We encourage people to watch this space. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Harvey Weinstein's "Jane Doe 1" Victim Reveals Identity: "I'm Tired of Hiding" 'Awards Chatter' Podcast: 'Sopranos' Creator David Chase Finally Reveals What Happened to Tony (Exclusive)
