Elon Musk vs Wikipedia: a clash over how to describe ‘Nazi salute’

Name: Elon Musk causes stir with hand gesture at Trump inauguration
Uploaded: 2025-01-23T04:22:07.000Z
Duration: 1 min 4 s
Description: Elon Musk causes stir with hand gesture at Trump inauguration

Dust-up comes after billionaire Musk made a straight-arm gesture at a Trump inauguration event on Monday

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Elon Musk causes stir with hand gesture at Trump inauguration

Agence France-Presse

Published: 12:22pm, 23 Jan 2025

The gesture was controversial enough, but now come the sub-controversies: Elon Musk is trolling Wikipedia and encouraging its defunding after a description of his recent flourish, seen by some as a Hitler salute, appeared on the encyclopedic website.

The fight pits two of the internet’s best-known tech giants against each other – and highlights the starkly different ethos behind Musk’s X social media site and Wikipedia, founded by American entrepreneur Jimmy Wales.

Musk, as the majority owner of X, is behind recent easing of content moderation rules, which has allowed for rampant disinformation across his social media platform, while simultaneously positioning himself as US President Donald Trump’s right-hand man.

While Musk’s animosity towards Wikipedia may focus outwardly on the hand gesture, Wikipedia’s goal of factual neutrality makes it a natural adversary to X, a platform increasingly synonymous with heated culture wars, hate speech and disinformation.

Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia. File photo: Matt Haldane

Wikipedia and the media at large – which Musk has increasingly criticised – also pose a threat by holding him accountable as he thrusts himself into the centre of US politics.