Tesla CEO Elon Musk introduces the Cybertruck at Tesla's design studio on Nov. 21, 2019, in Hawthorne, California. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)
The protests on Saturday were billed as "nonviolent" and showcased people line dancing outside Teslas stores while holding anti-swastika and anti-Musk signs. Others protested for a couple of hours outside of Tesla dealerships, local media outlets reported, with some holding signs reading "DON'T BUY SWASTICAR," or "Nobody elected Elon."
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The U.S. protests on Saturday stretched from New York to Maryland to Texas to California. Many of the rallies saw dozens of protesters, while larger protests, such as one in Chicago, drew crowds of over 100 people, and another in New York drew hundreds of protesters, various media reports show.
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"Tesla Takedown is a peaceful protest movement. We oppose violence, vandalism and destruction of property. This protest is a lawful exercise of our First Amendment right to peaceful assembly," the Action Network, a left-wing advocacy group, described the nationwide protests online.
Protesters rally outside a Tesla showroom in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday, March 29, 2025. (Brian Kaiser/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"I know when something is AstroTurf. Fun fact: I was among the first reporters (if not first) to put the concept of ‘Astro Turf’ lobbying into the pages of the Wall Street Journal as an international trade reporter," former Wall Street Journal correspondent Asra Nomani posted to X after reporting on a Tesla protest last Saturday in Tysons, Virginia, outside of Washington, D.C.
"While local #TeslaTakedown protests may appear spontaneous and community-driven, they are the product of well-funded, tightly coordinated campaigns led by national political organizations like the Indivisible Project, http://MoveOn.org, and professional protest firms," Nomani continued.
Nomani authored a piece in the Fairfax Times titled, "Local #TeslaTakedown reveals ‘grassroots’ protests are AstroTurf."
"These groups use digital platforms, pre-scripted chants, pre-printed signs, and nationwide toolkits to manufacture the appearance of grassroots activism, and the messages on Tyco Road mirror the language of protests nationwide. This kind of organizing is known as ‘AstroTurfing’ – a term used to describe top-down efforts that mimic authentic, bottom-up civic engagement," she continued on X.
Podcast host Joe Rogan, in a clip shared by Musk, speculated that protesters in past days were receiving money to take part in the anti-Tesla protests.
Five Tesla vehicles were set on fire and shot at in what police are investigating as a "targeted attack" in Las Vegas on March 18. (Hal Sparks via Storyful)
Other X users took to social media to speculate and accuse the Tesla protests of being an example of astroturfing.
"ASTROTURF: Rep Jasmine Crockett is working with the Soros-backed paid protest group 'Indivisible' to organize canned protests at Tesla stores across the US. Here the Democrat congresswoman is asking for Elon to be 'taken down' for her birthday," popular conservative X account Amuse posted to X.
"NEW: Tesla protesters stop protesting at the Southlake Texas Tesla store the moment clock read 12 PM, according to @Carlos__Turcios. 'They all immediately left the minute it was 12:00 pm.' Odd," Trending Politics co-owner Colin Rugg posted to X.
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Reports that some protesters packed their bags at exactly noon in Texas sparked further accusations of "astroturfing," including one user who responded to Rugg saying, "Paid astroturf. This entire op is fake. Follow the money."
Baltimore area residents protest the Trump administration and Elon Musk at a Tesla car dealership, Saturday, March 29, 2025. (Dominic Gwinn/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
"The days of committing crimes without consequence have ended," Bondi said. "Let this be a warning: if you join this wave of domestic terrorism against Tesla properties, the Department of Justice will put you behind bars."
A Las Vegas man was arrested earlier this month for his alleged involvement in a Molotov cocktail attack on a Tesla property. The suspect in that case faces a bevy of felony charges, including three counts of arson, three counts of possession of an explosive device, five counts of shooting into a car and four counts of destroying personal property, according to local police.
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Musk remarked on X on Saturday that it is "insanely ironic" that "the people shooting bullets into Tesla stores, burning down cars and generally being violent are calling me a Nazi when I have done literally zero violence at all."
Fox News Digital's Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/astroturf-critics-speculate-tesla-protests-not-grassroots-movement-carefully-organized-campaign