Also had a look at their comment history, does not look very damning to me. Can you link a comment you are referring to?

What are you on about?

It’s an opinion piece talking about not jumping through the hoops of Musk’s outrage tactic. https://www.zeit.de/kultur/2025-01/elon-musk-hitlergruss-amtseinfuehrung-donald-trump

The same newspaper had the full video online a few days earlier.

There are exceptetions to that law: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strafgesetzbuch_section_86a

Subsection (1) shall not be applicable if the means of propaganda or the act serves to further civil enlightenment, to avert unconstitutional aims, to promote art or science, research or teaching, reporting about current historical events or similar purposes

If there are reasons for German newspapers to omit Musk’s Hitler salute, that’s not it.

A quick look at a german Newspapers would tell you that this statement is false

https://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2025-01/elon-musk-kritik-hitlergruss-geste https://www.br.de/nachrichten/deutschland-welt/elon-musks-arm-geste-reaktion-auf-angeblichen-hitlergruss,UaVppB4 https://taz.de/Elon-Musks-Hitlergruss/!6060000/