A static image suggestive of a thing happening is not comparable to video where the thing actually happens. The fact that they have to resort to it in fact makes an argument it's not something commonly happening at all, kind of making an argument for us.

Perhaps if you look at them all as images, yes, it is a fair point. Which is the whole problem, and how Libs of TikTok manages to manipulate the narrative.

The moment you watch the actual video of Elon's gesture, you'll see the second time around that he definitely did the salute.