Massive DDoS attack disrupts Trump-Musk livestream on X

Elon Musk announced that a significant DDoS attack disrupted his livestream with former U.S. President Donald Trump, forcing the X owner to reduce the live audience size. The interview experienced delays as technical issues prevented users from accessing the livestream.

“We’ll proceed with a smaller live audience and post the conversation later if necessary,” Musk stated in a post on X. Users on the platform faced multiple issues while attempting to join the livestream, with terms like “crashed,” “unable,” and “#TwitterBlackout” trending shortly after the event’s scheduled 8 p.m. ET start time, according to CNN.

Desktop users saw a pop-up message saying, “this space is not available,” accompanied by a monkey emoji, while mobile app users encountered a greyed-out screen, unable to join the event. The disruption echoed previous technical difficulties X encountered during high-profile broadcast events, such as last year’s “Spaces” event featuring Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, which was plagued by bugs and audio issues. Musk attributed those problems to an overloaded server.

Aware of the potential for technical challenges, Musk conducted streaming tests the night before the Trump interview to ensure X’s systems were prepared.

Trump was recently interviewed by live streamer Adin Ross at his Mar-a-Lago residence, a session that set a new viewing record for the streaming platform ‘Kick.’ Last month, Musk endorsed Trump’s candidacy following an assassination attempt on the former president in Pennsylvania, a move that marked a shift from the typical neutrality of social media platform leaders, as reported by The New York Times.

Trump’s account was permanently suspended by Twitter (now X) after the January 6, 2021, Capitol Hill attack but was later reinstated under Musk’s ownership. Trump’s interview with Musk follows Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’s selection of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate.