While Elon Musk and his acolity tear through the federal government seeking agencies to throw in the “Chipper Wood”, a fundamental attempt to hit the richest man in the world, where it hurts is steaming.
The courts are busy with the dispute of the actions of the Department of Efficiency of the Musk government, but the judicial system is slow – and citizens are receiving Antsy.
Some in the SH.BA who are dawn in the blood of Musk’s government have sold their teslas, or went directly to vandalism.
But hundreds others now plan to protest in Tesla traders across the country on February 15 – a move that soon summed up this week by misinformation researcher Joan Donovan and accelerated by the documentary filmmaker and exclusivity star Bill & Ted Alex Winter in Bluesky.
“As citizens, we have different points of levers,” Donovan said in an interview with Techcrunch. “One is talking to our representatives, but another is paying attention to the publication of ransocking of federal government data, and especially the way in which Musk is operating without transparency, and, it seems, impunity.”
What began in Bluesky has spread to protests planned outside the Tesla exhibition hall across the country in cities such as Austin, Portland, Seattle, Kansas City and Mesa, Arizona.
Tesla and Musk did not respond to comment requests. Techcrunch will be updated if musk or automobile responds.
Motivation for Donovan – who is also an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Boston, but said she is acting in her capacity as an American citizen – came when she saw some of the first small protests outside Tesla stores last week.
“I was inspired by a small protest in Maine, where people had brought some signs to a Tesla accusation station, and how this had brought some conversations and allowed people to meet each other and discuss what was happening, “Said Donovan.
So, earlier this week, Donovan began posting.
“If Musk thinks he can speed up execute through DC by downloading personal data, we can probably make some pots and pan on the sidewalks of tesla traders,” she wrote on February 8 while connecting with The Tesla’s list of her tesla US shops she added a hashtag, “#teslatakeover”.
Winter, who worked with Donovan to organize the performances of his 2022 YouTube documentary at universities, told Techcrunch that he without posts and managed to help organize the effort.
“Sell your Teslas, discard your shares, join the picket lines,” Winter posted on Bluesky on February 10th. “Hurting Tesla is stopping musk, and musk stop will help save our lives and democracy.”
After this post, Winter and Donovan encouraged people to create their own local events in Tesla. Since Friday afternoon, people have set up 42 protest events across the US, including California, Florida, Texas and New York.
Winter told Techcrunch in an interview that he partnerships with the disruption project, a group that offers training for people interested in massive activism. He said hundreds of people have RSVP’D at different events so far, and that more are appearing every day. Winter also said he was even heard by people who are planning them internationally.
Protests are more about the formation of optics and community building, Winter said. Musk’s wide wealth is largely associated with its ownership with about 20% of tesla shares. This makes it somewhat sensitive to the big shakes in the company’s stock price – double so because it has borrowed a tremendous amount of money against those shares.
While the exact amount of the dollar is unknown, since an April 2024 regulatory representation, Musk had used nearly 60% of all Tesla’s shares he owned at the time as collateral for credit. Theoretically, if the price of tesla’s shares were enough to sink, Musk’s lenders could require him to pay what he still owes, or at least make him renegotiate their terms.
“The long goal is to depreciate, create a vote of distrust in the future of the company, and to stimulate a wide sale of shares that would harm it legally,” he said. “But I also see great value only in terms of activist education of activists and literacy.”
The winter background makes it well prepared for that educational effort. He has made documentaries about Panama Papers (a project that exposed financial crime and corruption across the globe), and possible damage to youtube algorithm food. He is also involved in the “Free Feeds Our” initiative, which is an attempt to build an open social media system in the Bluesky protocol in the protocol.
Given this, it is not surprising that he said he was concerned about Musk’s influence on technology for years.
Donovan said she believes Musk yes “really exploiting the fact that many Americans are ignorant of how the government actually works” while spreading this misinformation. It worries that this will lead to violence – especially as Musk and its supporters singled out government employees, judges and members of their family.
This is another reason why Donovan said she wants people to go out and protest.
“My hope is for people to gather, acting in the country, but globally thinking in these protests and finding other more local ways to resist them,” Donovan said. “I think one of the things Musk has overlooked is that power does not derive from the federal government, power is derived from states, and there are many that various state agencies can do to restore the power of the Federal Government for the responsibility of force.”
