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Even though Elon Musk recently exited the Trump administration, activists who have been vocal against his electric car company, Tesla, show no signs of slowing their efforts. The protesters behind the Tesla Takedown movement have announced plans to expand their campaign far beyond the company's showrooms.

Over the past four months, Tesla Takedown has grown into an international movement. It all began in February when Joan Donovan, a sociology professor at Boston University, organized a small demonstration at a Tesla showroom in Boston. She was inspired by a modest protest at Tesla’s electric vehicle chargers in Maine shortly after President Trump’s inauguration. The demonstration's notice was posted on Bluesky using the hashtag #TeslaTakedown.

“Our first protest on February 15 had about 50 people,” said Donovan. “By the next week, there were 100 more people, and the numbers kept growing.” Now, Tesla Takedown has organized demonstrations at Tesla locations in several countries, including Australia, Britain, France, and Germany, as well as across the United States.

The movement gained momentum partly due to discontent with Musk’s role as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency. Under his leadership, the department cut government spending and dismissed tens of thousands of federal workers while gaining access to sensitive personal data. This further fueled public anger, compounding the negative effects on Tesla’s car sales since the protests began when Trump took office.

David S. Meyer, a sociology professor at the University of California, Irvine, noted the unique success of the anti-Tesla movement. “Most corporate boycotts and corporate actions don’t work and don’t last. They’re just a blip and fade away,” he said. However, the Tesla protests, he noted, “gave people a way to express their dissatisfaction with Trump and made Musk's involvement a liability for Tesla."

While Tesla and Musk have yet to comment on these ongoing protests, a White House spokesman dismissed claims that the protests influenced Musk’s departure from his government role. “He had to go back to his companies,” the spokesman declared.

The activists now face the challenge of sustaining their momentum, especially with Musk seemingly retreating from the political scene. Nonetheless, Alice Hu, an organizer of protests at Tesla locations in New York, emphasized that their resolve remains strong. “We want to apply as much pressure as possible to Elon Musk himself,” Hu stated. “We want to send a message to the Trump regime that people are watching and there will be consequences for their actions.”

Looking ahead, the group plans around 50 protests to coincide with Musk’s birthday on June 28. They also aim to broaden their approach by urging city and state governments to divest from Tesla stock and to boycott Musk's other businesses, such as Starlink. This strategy was discussed during a recent conference call that drew several hundred participants.

Donovan, with her extensive background in policy and political debates, is no stranger to controversy. Prior to her tenure at Boston University, she served as the research director at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard. She left the center in 2023, later filing a complaint alleging that she was dismissed due to pressure from Meta, which has financial connections to Harvard. The university has refuted her allegations, while Meta declined to comment.