Elon Musk’s platform, X, experienced a widespread outage on Monday morning, affecting thousands of users, including many in the U.S. After about eight hours of disruptions, Musk took to X to share that the platform was facing a “massive cyberattack.”
“There was (still is) a massive cyberattack against 𝕏. We get attacked every day, but this was done with a lot of resources. Either a large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved. Tracing …” Musk wrote on X.
Musk’s Cyberattack Allegations and Source of Attack
In a live interview with Fox News, Musk suggested that the alleged cyberattack appeared to originate from IP addresses in the Ukraine area.
While Musk’s claims are yet to be substantiated with evidence, it’s not surprising that X might be a target for cyberattacks. Musk has become a polarizing figure under President Donald Trump’s second administration, leading the “DOGE” team, which has overseen controversial cuts to government funding, jobs, and international aid programs. Musk’s role in the government has led to protests at Tesla stores, and his car company’s stock has taken a hit as well.
According to Downdetector, which tracks online outages, X went down for many users around 5:30 a.m. ET, with over 20,000 outage reports. Though the issue seemed to resolve within an hour, the problem returned at 9:30 a.m. ET, with more than 40,000 users experiencing difficulties. While some users intermittently regained access, the issues persisted until after 1:30 PM ET.
Although occasional outages are common for large platforms, they remain inconvenient for users. One frustrated user commented on Downdetector, “on day 1 of the NFL free agency!? ELON Fix this.”
Author’s Opinion
While Musk’s claim about a cyberattack could be valid, it’s also clear that the recurring technical issues with X reflect broader problems at the company. The outages, combined with Musk’s leadership in various controversial areas, create a platform that feels unstable. As X continues to grow in prominence, it’s critical that Musk prioritizes resolving these technical issues and avoids becoming distracted by political and personal battles. The platform’s reliability should be the main focus, or it risks losing user trust.
Featured image credit: Columbia Business School
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