Who keeps saying Elon’s Nazi salute was a Nazi salute? Amongst others, a whole lot of fucking Nazi’s.
ETA: Wired has more coverage on how real goddamn fucking nazis are just as happy as pigs in shit right now: Neo-Nazis Love the Nazi-Like Salutes Elon Musk Made at Trump’s Inauguration.
There’s been a singer that did it during a concert. Multiple times, too. She got a fine of 80.000€.
Another one is this case. He got a fine of 600€ for showing the salute with the left arm. Reasoning of the person that did it:“I thought it wouldn’t be forbidden with the left, I wanted to be provocative towards leftist protestors”.
I found another one where an artist who did it in public was fined 30 “Tagessätze” (your daily income) worth 50€ each, so 1500€.
So most punishment comes in the form of fines, imprisonment is rare. One must consider that usage of the Hitler Salute is covered under § 86a of our Penal Code (“Usage of Signs of anticonstitutional and terrorist organisations”), which is more tame than the § 130 of the same code, “Volksverhetzung”. That one would always be met with imprisonment (three months to five years), assuming you’re the instigator. But the bar is also a lot higher, since it requires you to actively sow hatred, instigate violence against certain people, be it based on sex, heritage, politics, birthplace, religion or whatever.
§ 86a StGB in English
§ 130 StGB in English
Okay, so it seems like yes, cool, thanks! Well, I think that’s a wrap, folks. It’s a Hitler salute.