Anti-Elon Musk guerrilla art vending machine goes up at SXSW in Austin
An anonymous group set up an anti-Elon Musk vending machine dispensing Epstein files at SXSW 2026 in Austin, Texas, on Saturday morning.
Mashable saw a group of four men install the guerrilla protest artwork on the corner of Red River Street and 4th Street in downtown Austin. After a brief installation, passersby began collecting DVDs titled “Elon’s Epstein Files.” The vending machine is covered in anti-Elon Musk slogans and messages on the machine say “Grok makes AI child pornography free!” and “Our founder Elon Musk is in the Epstein files.”
A group of unidentified men install an anti-Elon Musk art project at SXSW 2026.
Credit: Timothy Werth / Mashable
Grok was the subject of global investigations after the AI chatbot was accused of generating nude images of children. The Center for the Fight against Digital Hate (CCDH) and the New York Times found that Grok created approximately 3 million sexualized images, including 23,000 images depicting children, over an 11-day period between December and January.
When Grok Imagine launched, Mashable reported that the tool lacked basic security safeguards to prevent sexual deepfakes.
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A QR code inside the DVD takes you to Jmail, a site that lets you search through Epstein’s emails in a Gmail-like interface. (Use caution when scanning QR codes from unknown sources.) Specifically, this code links to a search in Jmail that shows emails between Musk and Epstein. What Mashable previously covered: Jmail is the brainchild of digital “prankster” Riley Walz and developer Luke Igel. However, we do not know if this Elon Musk ATM is associated with the Jmail project.
The men installing the vending machine refused to say who they were or who hired them. Two men who described themselves as “security guards” said the vending machine would be open until Wednesday. A photographer and the man setting up the machine told Mashable they were hired by a company that was hired by another company and declined to provide identifying details.
An Anti-Elon Musk vending machine appears in downtown Austin during SXSW 2026.
Credit: Timothy Werth / Mashable
Credit: Timothy Werth / Mashable
The men who installed the machine also claimed responsibility for the Epstein Walk of Shame art installation, which appeared in downtown Austin earlier in the week.
The annual SXSW festival takes place in Austin, Texas, March 12-18.
