Elon Musk Alleges DDoS Attack on X During Trump Interview

Elon Musk, the owner of X (formerly Twitter), has claimed that the social media platform was targeted by a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack as his interview with Donald Trump was about to begin.

Disruption During Event

The attack coincided with technical issues that disrupted the X Space event scheduled for 8:00 pm Eastern Time on August 12th, where Musk was set to interview Trump. Multiple users reported being unable to join the stream, though 120,000 users managed to connect despite the difficulties.

Musk's Response

Musk posted on X, stating that they were working to mitigate the attack. He later commenced the interview at 8:30 pm, albeit with a smaller live audience. Unedited audio of the interview was promised to be posted afterward.

Opening Remarks

Musk began the interview by suggesting that the attack reflected opposition to Trump’s views.

Trump’s Focus

During the two-hour interview, Trump discussed various topics, including illegal immigration, foreign relations, and his criticisms of President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. However, cryptocurrency, a topic of interest for both Trump and Musk, was notably absent from the conversation.

Crypto Speculations

Prior to the interview, speculators had placed over $1 million in bets on whether Trump would mention "crypto" or "Bitcoin." As the interview progressed without mention of these topics, the odds of them being discussed plummeted.

EU Concerns

The interview took place amidst concerns from the European Union’s internal market chief, Thierry Breton, who warned Musk that the event could amplify potentially harmful content. X CEO Linda Yaccarino criticized Breton’s letter, arguing that it overreaches EU law and undermines European citizens' ability to form their own opinions.