Elon Musk claims ‘investigation’ links George Soros, Reid Hoffman to funding ‘Tesla Takedown’ | Everything to know

Elon Musk, who owns 12% stake in Tesla, has in a explosive claim accused fellow billionaires George Soros, Reid Hoffman, and the ActBlue fundraising organisation over the recent protests that have rocked Tesla. Elon Musk has also cited an unspecified ‘investigation’ into ActBlue while accusing the billionaires of funding Tesla Takedown protests. 

“An investigation has found 5 ActBlue-funded groups responsible for Tesla “protests”: Troublemakers, Disruption Project, Rise & Resist, Indivisible Project and Democratic Socialists of America. ActBlue funders include George Soros, Reid Hoffman, Herbert Sandler, Patricia Bauman, and Leah Hunt-Hendrix”, Elon Musk wrote on X.

“ActBlue is currently under investigation for allowing foreign and illegal donations in criminal violation of campaign finance regulations. This week, 7 ActBlue senior officials resigned, including the associate general counsel”, Elon Musk added.

Elon Musk reposted a tweet by right-wing influencer Mario Nawfal parroting the Tesla Chief’s claims about ActBlue, George Soros and Reid Hoffman, which vaguely cited X, the New York Post and the conservative outlet BizPac Review as sources, though a BizPac Review article about the protests only cited Musk’s post as a source and articles by the New York Post about Tesla protests do not state who is behind them.

Notably, there is no other evidence linking Soros or Hoffman to the Tesla protests. George Soros and Reid Hoffman are linked to ActBlue through their roles as prominent Democratic donors. However, there is no evidence linking them to recent Tesla protests.

Elon Musk’s latest post comes one day after he said, “Something stinks about ActBlue,” in a post on X, which was in response to a user posting about seven ActBlue senior officials resigning at the end of February.

Elon Musk, who also owns 42% stake in SpaceX, saw his net worth is deplete more than $120 billion from his $464 billion peak in December, as the value of Tesla shares fell amid fears over President Donald Trump’s tariffs, according to Forbes.

What is ActBlue Organisation?

Elon Musk misleadingly called the protesters at Tesla “ActBlue-funded,” though ActBlue does not fund groups, but instead is a platform through which donors can give money to campaigns or organizations.

ActBlue is a nonprofit organisation and political action committee (PAC) that serves as a major fundraising platform for Democratic candidates and progressive causes in the United States.

Founded in 2004, ActBlue specialises in mobilising small-dollar donations, having raised over $13.7 billion for Democratic candidates and causes as of June 2024.

It operates as a conduit for processing individual contributions, which are then reported to the Federal Election Commission.

George Soros: George Soros is a renowned Hungarian-American financier and philanthropist, best known for his successful hedge fund management and his role as the founder of the Open Society Foundations, which support democratic initiatives globally. Through his philanthropy, Soros has donated over $32 billion to promote human rights, education, and democracy across more than 100 countries.

Reid Hoffman: Reid Hoffman is a prominent American entrepreneur and venture capitalist, celebrated for co-founding LinkedIn, a leading professional networking platform.

How Are People Protesting Elon Musk And Tesla?

Tesla has been targeted by protesters angry at Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) effort to slash jobs across the federal government.

On Saturday, multiple protesters were arrested outside of a New York City Tesla dealership, some of whom chanted: “We need clean air, not another billionaire,” the New York Post reported.

Earlier this week, about 350 protesters chanted, “Elon Musk has got to go,” outside of a Tesla dealership in Portland, Oregon.

Last week, protesters at more than 50 Tesla stores across the United States demonstrated to protest Musk, and some of the protests have extended internationally to Barcelona, London and Lisbon, CNN reported.

Many of these protests appear to be organised on the “Tesla Takedown” website, which urges protesters to “sell your Teslas, dump your stock, join the picket lines.

The “Tesla Takedown” website lists the Troublemakers and Disruption Project organizations as sponsors, two of the groups mentioned in Elon Musk’s Saturday post, Forbes reported

“Creating a vote of no confidence in him from the shareholders, that would be the ultimate goal,” Alex Winter, actor and protest organizer, told CNN.