DDoS Attack Interrupts Highly Anticipated Conversation between Elon Musk and Donald Trump on X
The joint X Spaces event featuring Elon Musk and Donald Trump took an unexpected turn when the conversation crashed on Monday afternoon. Users who tried to join the Space at the scheduled time of 5 pm PT were greeted with an error message stating, “This Space is not available.” This incident came as a disappointment to many, as the conversation had been eagerly anticipated and heavily promoted by both Trump and Musk.
The live event eventually started at 5:42 pm PT, almost an hour after the scheduled time. Musk referred to the event as a “conversation” and addressed the delay caused by the crash. He claimed that there had been a massive DDoS attack on X, which stands for distributed denial-of-service. This type of attack occurs when a bad actor overwhelms an internet server with a flood of artificial traffic. Musk connected this attack to the opposition faced by Trump, stating, “As this massive attack illustrates, there’s a lot of opposition to people just hearing what President Trump has to say.”
Interestingly, this is not the first time an X Space has crashed during a political campaign event. In May 2023, Twitter experienced technical issues that interrupted Ron DeSantis’s 2024 campaign announcement during a Twitter Space session with Musk and venture capitalist David Sacks. Such incidents highlight the challenges faced by social media platforms when hosting high-profile conversations involving political figures.
Trump’s return to X on Monday morning marked his first appearance on the platform since being banned in January 2021. Prior to his ban, Trump had primarily used his own social media platform, Truth Social. However, Musk reinstated Trump’s Twitter account on X in November 2022 after taking over the platform.
The anticipation surrounding the conversation between Musk and Trump demonstrates the influence and engagement that both these figures command. Despite the technical difficulties, the event generated significant interest and drew attention to the ongoing debates about freedom of speech and the role of social media platforms in shaping public discourse.
Overall, the X Spaces event crash serves as a reminder of the complexities and challenges faced by social media platforms in handling high-demand live events involving influential personalities. It also raises questions about the potential for disruptions and attacks on digital platforms during politically charged conversations. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, platforms like X will need to invest in robust infrastructure and security measures to ensure smooth and uninterrupted user experiences.
