Over the past two months, a movement calling itself “Tesla Takedown” has staged hundreds of protests across the U.S., aiming not to change laws or pressure regulators — but to drive down Tesla’s stock price. The movement frames itself as grassroots resistance to Musk’s influence. But its methods and messaging online suggest it may be tied to a coordinated campaign with financial motives.

A Pirate Wires investigation reveals that key Wikipedia articles related to Tesla, Tesla Takedown, and Elon Musk himself, have been edited extensively by accounts that may have ties to the Tesla short-seller movement. Some of these accounts have been reprimanded or blocked for violating neutrality and targeting Musk, yet continue to shape what millions see as objective fact.

I’ve previously reported on how Wikipedia — its lore, PR, and neutral-looking interface — presents a smooth surface that often hides the activities of political or ideological campaigns run by edit gangs or sophisticated pay-to-play agencies. In the case of the article on the Tesla Takedown movement, a confluence of many of these forces appears to be at work. The effect is to present the movement in a light carefully calibrated to meet the demands of an unseen agenda.