Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
Tesla chief executive officer Elon Musk on Monday claimed that protesters demonstrating against the company are being paid, as a wave of vandalism and politically motivated acts target Tesla locations and vehicles across the US and Europe.
The company has been facing protests and acts of vandalism in the US, Canada and several European countries. In the US, the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) have established a joint task force to investigate a series of vandalism and arson attacks targeting Tesla showrooms and charging stations.
“Far Leftwing activist who protested the Southlake Texas Tesla Shop immediately left when its clock read 12:00 PM. These people were more than likely shipped in. They defended illegal aliens as well,” X user Carlos Turcios wrote on Sunday, referencing a protest outside a Tesla location in Texas.
Musk reposted the video, adding: “They literally are paid ‘protesters’!”
In a separate video that surfaced earlier this month, a person identified as one of the demonstrators in the US claimed to be receiving compensation. “Yeah. I get paid to be out here,” the individual said in the recording, which was shared on social media.
Two days before that video began circulating, Musk wrote on X that “an investigation has found 5 ActBlue-funded groups responsible for Tesla ‘protests’,” naming Troublemakers, Disruption Project, Rise & Resist, Indivisible Project, and Democratic Socialists of America.
He added that ActBlue’s funders include “George Soros, Reid Hoffman, Herbert Sandler, Patricia Bauman, and Leah Hunt-Hendrix.”
Musk said ActBlue is “currently under investigation for allowing foreign and illegal donations in criminal violation of campaign finance regulations,” adding that last week “7 ActBlue senior officials resigned, including the associate general counsel.”
“If you know anything about this, please post in replies. Thanks, Elon,” Musk concluded. Since then, the post got 28,000 replies.
Over the weekend, protests erupted in several US cities. Responding to those incidents, Musk wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “Sure 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.”
Tesla last week released its internal delivery consensus for the first quarter, showing that 27 Wall Street analysts expect the company to report 377,592 vehicle deliveries. That would mark Tesla’s lowest quarterly result since Q3 2022, when it delivered 343,830 units. It would also represent a 2.4% decline from a year earlier.
First quarter figures are expected to be announced on Wednesday, April 2.
The latest attack occurred earlier in the day in Italy, where a fire at a Tesla dealership on the outskirts of Rome destroyed seven vehicles and damaged another 17. No injuries were reported, and the facility was unoccupied at the time.
