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“Tesla: The Swasticar”, reads a poster at a bus stop opposite Sadler’s Well Theatre. “Autopilot for your car. Autocrat for your country.”
First appearing around Clerkenwell in February, London has since been plastered with guerrilla advertisements comparing Elon Musk to a Nazi over recent weeks.
It was a satirical swipe at the multi-billionaire Tesla owner and world’s richest man. “We are holding Elon to account,” the group behind the poster said.
“Not happy with fuelling the far-right in the USA, Elon Musk is now doing the same in Europe. We can’t let the richest man in the world poison our politics,” it said.
Since then, copy-cat campaign groups have taken to erecting larger-scale billboard-style posters across other parts of the capital.
Here, The Independent takes a look at who is behind the campaigns and why they are appearing across London.
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Who is behind the campaigns?
Though it is not clear who the individuals are behind the groups, Everybody Hates Elon has vowed to “build a movement against billionaires” who “seek to divide ordinary people”.
“Everyone Hates Elon is doing actions holding Elon to account. All proceeds will go directly towards the costs of our campaigning,” the group said on its gofundme page.
Overthrow Musk said it was founded to “fight the oligarchs” and “defend democracy”, with their political stunts cropping up in Tottenham, Walthamstow and St Albans.
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Everybody Hates Elon was the first group reported to have erected the posters, which appeared in February.
A week later, the volunteer-led campaign group put up a series of fake advertisements on the London Underground comparing Musk to a Nazi.
It showed Musk appearing to give a Nazi salute next to Tesla’s dwindling share prices with the title: “Hate doesn’t sell. Just ask Tesla”.
A different poster showed an image of a fake “Elon’s Musk” swastika perfume bottle with the caption “Elon’s Musk, Parfum de 1939”.
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In Walthamstow, a billboard-style poster designed by a separate group Overthrow Musk showed an image of Musk with the words: “Buying a Tesla? You may be in for a Nazi surprise?”.
A mock film advertisement for “The Fast and Führer” showing a “Doge” plated Telsa Model S next to the caption “Heil Tesla” was also put up in Tottenham.
It had a fake PG warning reading: “Parental guidance. Tesla’s CEO is a far-right activist. Don’t give him your money.”
Why are they appearing?
Elon Musk was accused of giving what appeared to be a Nazi “salute” during a Trump inauguration rally in January. In response he said on X: “Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The “everyone is Hitler” attack is so tired.”
Musk has made a number of high-profile attacks against Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour government, while throwing support behind right-wing party Reform.
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In a slew of attacks in January, he accused the prime minister of being “complicit” in the crimes carried out by UK grooming gangs.
It also emerged that Musk had discussed how best to remove from office before the next UK general election.
The Financial Times reported he was in talks with right-wing allies on how he could best destabilise the Labour government beyond his aggressive social media attacks on the PM.
The SpaceX and Tesla owner also took aim at Germany ahead of federal elections in February, endorsing and promoting the far-right AfD, which came second in the polls.
Dan, who designs posters for Overthrow Musk, and only gave his first name, told The Independent: “Musk is an oligarch co-president. He is a very dangerous man and his Nazi salute and support for far-right European parties show this.
“But his weak spot is Tesla. His wealth is tied up in it. Reducing Tesla’s sales reduces his power. We are trying to make the link between Tesla and Musk more obvious.
What has the response been?
A Transport for London spokesperson said the posters were not authorised by the network, “and we have instructed our teams and contractors to remove any that are found on our network.”
