Fact check: How many attended no kings protests

1. Summary of the results

The exact attendance numbers for the "No Kings" protests vary significantly across different sources:

• A crowdsourced effort estimated 4-6 million attendees nationwide ^[1]
• Two sources reported 12.2 million participants across 2,000+ events ^[2]
• The ACLU and Move On reported over 5 million participants across 2,100 rallies ^[3]

Specific city numbers were reported for:

• Los Angeles: "tens of thousands"
• New York City: 50,000 protesters ^[3]

2. Missing context/alternative viewpoints

Several important contextual elements were missing from the original question:

• The protests were specifically aimed at opposing Trump's second administration policies ^[2]
• This was the largest coordinated protest since Trump's second term began ^[2]
• The movement was organized by a coalition of over 200 organizations ^[2]
• The protests occurred across all 50 states and U.S. territories ^[2]
• The 4-6 million estimate was based on incomplete data, covering only 40% of events with 2.6 million counted attendees ^[1]

3. Potential misinformation/bias in the original statement

The varying attendance numbers suggest potential biases in reporting:

• Protest organizers claimed 5 million attendees ^[1], which aligns with the ACLU and Move On numbers ^[3]
• The higher estimate of 12.2 million appears in multiple sources but may serve the interests of anti-Trump organizations seeking to demonstrate widespread opposition
• The lower estimates (4-6 million) represent incomplete data but may be more methodologically sound as they acknowledge the limitations of their counting methods ^[1]
• Different political organizations and media outlets might have vested interests in either inflating or deflating these numbers to support their respective narratives about public opposition to the Trump administration