Photos and videos show the ‘Tesla takedown’ protests that have sprung up in US cities©David Ryder/Getty Images

“Tesla Takedown” protests have happened in cities around the country in opposition to Elon Musk’s DOGE work.
Protesters are calling for Tesla owners to sell their stock and cars. Some owners have seen their vehicles vandalized.
Tesla’s stock price taken a hit this month and some shareholders told BI they want to sell their shares.

Criticism of Elon Musk has spilled out from the virtual walls of social networks and into the streets.

Demonstrators have gathered in cities around the US in recent days and weeks to participate in “Tesla Takedown” protests of varying sizes. Meanwhile, some Tesla owners have said they have faced insults or vandalism amid the Musk criticism.

Participants of the protests have called for a boycott of the EV giant in response to Musk’s involvement with the Trump administration and DOGE’s efforts to decrease the size of the federal workforce.

The “Tesla Takedown” effort started on BlueSky, a competitor to Musk’s X platform, and now has a dedicated website. The site calls for Tesla owners to sell their vehicles and stock in an effort to “stop Musk now.”

The website’s organizer, “Bill & Ted” actor and filmmaker Alex Winter, wrote in a RollingStone op-ed that demonstrations have happened at over 100 Tesla showrooms and other locations.

Tesla owner and shareholder David Abrams told Business Insider he’s heard about multiple protests but wasn’t aware of the “takedown” effort specifically. Abrams said he added “Anti Elon Tesla Club” and “I Bought This Before Elon Went Crazy” stickers to his car window, and is hoping that’s enough to keep it from getting vandalized.

“I absolutely want to sell my car and my shares,” Abrams said, adding that he’s waiting for the stock price to go up and would have sold his car already if it made financial sense.

While boycotts aren’t always effective at materially impacting a company’s bottom line, Wedbush analyst and Tesla bull Dan Ives wrote in a Monday note that Musk’s role in DOGE had a “visible perceived downside impact” on the company’s stock. Tesla’s share price has dropped this week after figures showed a 45% year-over-year drop in Tesla sales in Europe last month amid Musk’s vocal support of Germany’s far-right AfD party.

Musk addressed some of the protests while speaking at CPAC last week, calling them “fake rallies” with “hardly any people” and saying the demonstrations didn’t have “popular support.”

Here’s a closer look at some of the protests and anti-Tesla vandalism attempts that have taken place in recent weeks in the US.

Elon Musk weighed in on anti-Tesla vandalism in a recent interview.
Musk blamed the political left and suggested the vandalism was linked to DOGE’s efforts to identify fraud.
He said that Tesla was a “peaceful” company and that he hadn’t done anything wrong.

Elon Musk has some words for Tesla vandals.

Asked about the widespread incidents against Tesla dealerships and vehicles during a Fox News appearance on Tuesday, Musk denounced them and said the vandalism had reached levels he’d never seen.

He also attributed the incidents to those on the political left.

“It’s really come as quite a shock to me that there is this level of, really, hatred and violence from the left,” Musk said.

Protests have spread across the US since Musk began his work with the White House DOGE office in January. Across the pond, the slogan “Don’t buy a Tesla” has been used as a rallying cry of sorts in places such as Berlin and Wales.

The grassroots “Tesla Takedown” protest movement, which started on Bluesky, a competitor to Musk’s X platform, has called for Tesla owners to sell their vehicles and stock in an effort to “stop Musk now.” A website for the effort has listed dozens of public demonstrations at Tesla showrooms in recent weeks.

“I always thought that the left, you know, Democrats, were supposed to be the party of empathy, the party of caring, and yet they’re burning down cars, they’re firebombing dealerships, they’re firing bullets into dealerships, they’re smashing up Teslas,” Musk said.

“Tesla is a peaceful company,” he said. “We’ve never done anything harmful.”

Musk also suggested, without evidence, that the protests and vandalism incidents might be part of a broader conspiracy against him.

“I mean, I don’t know, who’s funding it and who’s coordinating it? Because this is crazy. I’ve never seen anything like this,” Musk said.

Since January, DOGE has worked to reduce government costs and what it describes as fraudulent spending and corruption. The effort has sent representatives to multiple federal government agencies and examined federal programs such as the Social Security Administration.

Though he didn’t mention a government department by name, Musk accused some people of receiving money “fraudulently” and suggested a possible connection to the protests against him and Tesla.

“And they basically want to kill me because I’m stopping their fraud, and they want to hurt Tesla because we’re stopping the terrible waste and corruption in the government,” he told Fox News.

“I’ve never done anything harmful,” he said.

Both President Donald Trump and the Justice Department have recently weighed in on the vandalism against Tesla, which the police say has included Tesla charging stations set on fire, gunfire damage at dealerships, and damage to Tesla vehicles.

Investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and a member of the Seattle Fire Department examining burned Tesla Cybertrucks at a Tesla lot in Seattle in March. AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson© AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson

When asked earlier this month whether he was considering labeling violent attacks against Tesla dealerships as “domestic terrorism,” Trump indicated he would.

“They’re bad guys. They’re the same guys who screw around with our schools and universities,” Trump said. “We’re going to catch you, and you’re going to go through hell.”

The Justice Department said Tuesday that it was pursuing those suspected of carrying out the ongoing vandalism, calling it “nothing short of domestic terrorism.”

Musk didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

The police are investigating attacks in their areas in partnership with federal agencies, and arrests have been made in some cases.

In February, a Colorado woman was arrested on suspicion of being involved in a vandalism incident and charged with criminal intent to commit a felony, criminal mischief, and using explosives or incendiary devices during a felony, police records say.

Some Tesla owners have meanwhile told BI they have decided to sell their vehicles amid the protests or have affixed bumper stickers saying “I Bought This Before We Knew Elon Was Crazy.”

Owners of the Cybertruck, the vehicle most closely associated with Musk, also told BI they’d experienced an uptick in road rage and vandalism directed at them in recent months.