Is a photo of a swastika spray-painted on a Tesla car in Austria related to current events involving Elon Musk in 2025? No, that's not true, the photo has been online since at least 2023. It showed just one car out of 19 that were damaged in a Vienna vandalism incident that involved several non-Tesla vehicles as well.
The picture appeared in a Bluesky post (archived here and here) where it was published by Anonymous on January 24, 2025, with a text that read:
Tesla Model 3 surprise redecorated on the street in Austria, Vienna. Acts of resistance against Musk products and businesses increasing worldwide, especially in Europe.
This is what the post looked like at the time of writing:
The photo has been online since at least November 8, 2023, when it appeared on the Austrian news website Heute (archived here).
Heute said that the photo had been taken by a "reader reporter" ("leserreporter") who reported five cars had been vandalized in the Wilhelm-Exner-Gasse (Wilhelm Exner Alley) in Vienna, Austria.
The vandalism included several other non-Tesla cars, as can be seen in the image below.
(Source: screenshot of heute.at taken on January 27, 2025)
According to Heute, local police reported 19 cars had been damaged in the same incident.
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