Musk alleged the crash was the result of a 'DDOS attack on X'
Critics railed against the technical difficulties that plagued X owner Elon Musk's highly-anticipated interview with former President Trump.
X users rushed to join Trump's "Space" where he was supposed to speak with the billionaire tech tycoon on the 2024 race. However, the "Space" immediately crashed due to the influx of users, offering the message "This Space is unavailable."
Moments later, Musk took to X, telling users, "There appears to be a massive DDOS [distributed denial-of-service] attack on 𝕏. Working on shutting it down. Worst case, we will proceed with a smaller number of live listeners and post the conversation later."
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There appears to be a massive DDOS attack on 𝕏. Working on shutting it down.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 13, 2024
Worst case, we will proceed with a smaller number of live listeners and post the conversation later.
Elon Musk's X was plagued with technical malfunction as he was set to interview former President Trump. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
In response to one X user who speculated that Democrats were involved in technical meltdown, Musk wrote "Yeah."
Yeah
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 13, 2024
Musk later insisted X was technically prepared for the Trump interview, posting "We tested the system with 8 million concurrent listeners earlier today."
"We will proceed with the smaller number of concurrent listeners at 8:30 ET and then post the unedited audio immediately thereafter," Musk followed.
We tested the system with 8 million concurrent listeners earlier today https://t.co/ymqGBFEJX0
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 13, 2024
We will proceed with the smaller number of concurrent listeners at 8:30 ET and then post the unedited audio immediately thereafter https://t.co/oxF8PsNHnZ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 13, 2024
Former President Trump was set to make a grand return to X after he was previously banned from the platform before Musk bought it, then called Twitter. ( Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
The interview officially went underway after roughly 40 minutes. At least 1 million X users joined the beginning of the relaunched conversation.
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Critics reacted to the viral controversy.
"Please let Elon know we can’t join," billionaire investor Bill Ackman told Trump.
Please let Elon know we can’t join.
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) August 13, 2024
"Trump was fuming at the NABJ when their technical difficulties kept him waiting for 30 minutes Now he’s kept waiting again, and ofc a lot of the coverage is going to focus on the technical meltdown no matter what he says. He won’t be happy," Breaking Points co-host Saagar Enjeti wrote.
Trump was fuming at the NABJ when their technical difficulties kept him waiting for 30 minutes
— Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) August 13, 2024
Now he’s kept waiting again, and ofc a lot of the coverage is going to focus on the technical meltdown no matter what he says. He won’t be happy
New York Times reporter Jonathan Swan took a swipe at Musk's earlier promise when he said "Entertainment guaranteed!", replying "I’ll take functionality guaranteed!"
I’ll take functionality guaranteed! https://t.co/sPzUcEjc2L
— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) August 13, 2024
Musk alleged X was hit with a "DDOS" [distributed denial-of-service] attack. (Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The social media meltdown similarly occurred last year during the presidential campaign launch of Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who also had an interview set with Musk on his platform (then Twitter) but had technical malfunctions due to high "Spaces" traffic.
The interview was supposed to mark Trump's grand return to the platform after the company banned him in 2021 after the January 6 riot. Shortly after Musk bought Twitter and changed the company's name to X, he reinstated Trump's account.
Joseph A. Wulfsohn is a media reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to