Elon Musk, the owner of X, reported a massive DDOS attack on his social media platform ahead of a much-anticipated live conversation with former President Donald Trump.
What Happened: On Monday, Musk tweeted about the cyber attack, stating, “There appears to be a massive DDOS 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.” The tweet came just hours before Musk’s planned live interview with Trump.
The live chat was scheduled for 8 p.m. E.T. on Monday, with Musk inviting his followers to post their questions and comments under the chat. The conversation was expected to be unscripted with no limits on subject matter, promising to be “highly entertaining,” according to Musk.
At the time of writing, the X Spaces feature was inaccessible to the author of this report in Japan.
Musk clarified that X had tested the system with 8 million concurrent listeners earlier in the day.
Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman posted on Trump’s Spaces thread saying he couldn’t join the stream.
Other X users also reported they had trouble joining the conversation.
Musk said in another tweet that X will proceed with a smaller number of concurrent listeners at 8:30 p.m. ET and post unedited audio thereafter.
Why It Matters: The live conversation was a significant event for X, which has been trying to break into the live-streaming industry. The platform has previously faced technical issues during large live streams. In 2023, X experienced glitches when more than 300,000 people tried to join the live stream of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announcing his presidential candidacy.
The conversation between Musk and Trump was expected to draw a large audience, potentially testing X’s streaming capabilities. Musk had previously tested the platform’s capabilities by broadcasting himself playing video games, which garnered around 10 million views each.
Trump’s appearance on X was his first in a year, and the live chat was seen as an opportunity for him to reach millions of viewers. The former president had earlier tweeted a video clip promoting his presidential bid, which gained over six million views in less than an hour.
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