Fact check: Who founded the 50501 movement and when did it start?

1. Summary of the results

The 50501 movement was definitively founded by a Reddit user with the handle "Evolved_Fungi" in late January 2025 ^{[1] [2]}. The movement's name comes from its original concept of organizing "50 protests in 50 states on one day" ^[2]. The first major protest occurred on February 5, 2025, which reportedly gathered 72,000 protesters across 40 states ^[1].

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

Several important contextual elements were missing from the original question:

• The founder was intentionally anonymous and avoided taking a leadership role, wanting the movement to be self-organizing ^[2]. They described themselves as an engineer with a marketing degree who had been developing this concept for about a decade ^[2].
• Kay Evert emerged as a prominent organizer who has confirmed the grassroots origins of the movement ^[1].
• The movement has a specific political focus, particularly on protesting the Trump administration, Elon Musk's role, and the DOGE organization ^[3].

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The original question's simplicity could lead to misunderstanding of the movement's nature:

• While there is a clear founder, the movement was intentionally designed to be leaderless and self-organizing ^[2], making it misleading to attribute its success or direction to any single individual.
• The movement's rapid growth from a Reddit post to organizing protests with 72,000 participants across 40 states in just a few weeks ^[1] suggests significant pre-existing political tension and organization capability.
• The movement's specific focus on anti-Trump protests and opposition to certain organizations ^[3] indicates it's not just a general protest movement but has clear political objectives, which benefits those opposing the Trump administration and its associated entities.