\n<\/p>\n
As Elon Musk and his acolytes rip through the federal government looking for agencies to throw into the \u201cwood chipper,\u201d<\/a> a grassroots effort to hit the world\u2019s richest man where it hurts is picking up steam.<\/p>\n The courts are busy contesting the actions of Musk\u2019s Department of Government Efficiency, but the judicial system is slow \u2014 and citizens are getting antsy.<\/p>\n Some in the U.S. who are aghast at Musk\u2019s government bloodletting have sold their Teslas, or gone straight to vandalism.\u00a0<\/p>\n But hundreds of others now plan to protest at Tesla dealerships across the country on February 15 \u2014 a movement that quickly spun up this past week by disinformation researcher Joan Donovan and accelerated by documentary filmmaker and Bill & Ted franchise star Alex Winter on Bluesky.<\/p>\n \u201cAs citizens, we have different points of leverage,\u201d Donovan said in an interview with TechCrunch. \u201cOne is talking to our representatives, but another is publicly calling attention to the ransacking of the federal government\u2019s data, and particularly the way in which Musk is operating with no transparency, and, it seems, also impunity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n What started on Bluesky has spread to planned protests outside Tesla showrooms across the country in cities like Austin, Portland, Seattle, Kansas City, and Mesa, Arizona. <\/p>\n Tesla and Musk did not respond to requests for comment. TechCrunch will update if Musk or the automaker responds.<\/p>\n The motivation for Donovan \u2014 who is also an assistant professor of journalism at Boston University, but said she is acting in her capacity as a U.S. citizen \u2014 came when she saw the first few small protests outside Tesla stores last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI was inspired by a little protest in Maine, where people had brought some signs to a Tesla charging station, and how that had brought about some conversation and allowed people to meet each other and to discuss what\u2019s happening,\u201d Donovan said.\u00a0<\/p>\n So, earlier this week, Donovan started posting.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf Musk thinks he can speed run through DC downloading personal data, we can certainly bang some pots and pans on the sidewalks infront [sic] of Tesla dealerships,\u201d she wrote<\/a> on February 8, while linking to Tesla\u2019s own list of its stores in the U.S. She added a hashtag, \u201c#TeslaTakeover.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Winter, who worked with Donovan to organize showings of his 2022 documentary<\/a> The YouTube Effect at universities, told TechCrunch that he saw the posts and reached out to her to help organize the effort.<\/p>\n \u201cSell your Teslas, dump your stock, join the picket lines,\u201d Winter posted<\/a> to Bluesky on February 10. \u201cHurting Tesla is stopping Musk, and stopping Musk will help save lives and our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n After that post, Winter and Donovan encouraged people to set up their own local Tesla Takeover events.\u00a0As of Friday afternoon, people had set up 42 protest events throughout the U.S., including California, Florida, Texas, and New York.<\/p>\n Winter told TechCrunch in an interview that he partnered with The Disruption Project<\/a>, a group that offers training for people interested in mass activism. He said hundreds of people have RSVP\u2019d to the various events so far, and that more are popping up each day. Winter also said he\u2019s even heard from people who are planning them internationally.<\/p>\n The protests are about more than shaping optics and building community, Winter said. Musk\u2019s vast wealth is in large part tied to his ownership of about 20% of Tesla\u2019s stock. That makes him somewhat vulnerable to large swings in the company\u2019s stock price \u2014 doubly so because he has borrowed an incredible amount of money against those shares.\u00a0<\/p>\n While the exact dollar amount is unknown, as of an April 2024 regulatory filing, Musk had used nearly 60% of all the Tesla shares he owned at the time as collateral for loans<\/a>. Theoretically, if Tesla\u2019s stock price were to sink low enough, Musk\u2019s lenders could demand he pay back what\u2019s still owed, or at least make him renegotiate their terms.<\/p>\n \u201cThe long goal is to devalue, to create a vote of no confidence in the company\u2019s future, and to prompt a widespread selling of shares, which would legitimately hurt him,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I also see enormous value in just the public-facing activist education and literacy aspect of this.\u201d<\/p>\n Winter\u2019s background makes him well-prepared for that education effort. He\u2019s made documentaries about the Panama Papers (a project that exposed financial crime and corruption around the globe), and the potential harms of YouTube\u2019s algorithmic feed. He is also involved in the \u201cFree our Feeds<\/a>\u201d initiative, which is an effort to build an open social media system on Bluesky\u2019s AT Protocol.<\/p>\n With that in mind, it\u2019s no surprise he said he\u2019s been concerned about Musk\u2019s influence over tech for years.\u00a0<\/p>\n Donovan said she believes Musk is \u201creally leveraging the fact that many Americans are ignorant of how the government actually works\u201d while spreading this misinformation. She worries that it will lead to violence \u2014 especially as Musk and his supporters single out government workers, judges, and their family members.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s another reason why Donovan said she wants people to get out and protest.<\/p>\n \u201cMy hope is that people come together, acting locally but thinking globally at these protests, and find other more local ways to resist,\u201d Donovan said. \u201cI think one of the things that Musk has overlooked is that power isn\u2019t derived from the federal government, power is derived from the states, and there\u2019s a lot that different state agencies can do to rein in the power of the federal government to force accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n