X, formerly Twitter, experienced widespread outages on Monday, affecting thousands of users across the U.S. and beyond. The disruption lasted for over eight hours, prompting Elon Musk to claim the platform was under a “massive cyberattack.”
“There was (still is) a massive cyberattack against 𝕏. We get attacked every day, but this was done with a lot of resources. Either a large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved. Tracing …” Musk wrote in a post on X.
In a live Fox News interview on Monday, Musk suggested that the attack originated from IP addresses linked to Ukraine, though he provided no evidence to support the claim. While large-scale cyberattacks on major platforms are not uncommon, Musk’s statement has raised questions, especially given his increasing political and economic influence.
Musk, now a high-profile and controversial figure in President Donald Trump’s second administration, has led his internal team, codenamed “DOGE,” through rapid and chaotic budget cuts in government funding, jobs, and international aid.
Tesla Protests and Stock Decline Add Pressure
The cyberattack claims also come at a time when Tesla, Musk’s car company, is facing backlash. Protests have erupted at Tesla stores, targeting Musk’s outsized influence in government policies. Meanwhile, Tesla’s stock has seen a decline, adding further pressure to Musk’s growing challenges.
Reports of X’s outage first surfaced on Downdetector, a website that tracks platform disruptions.
- First Outage (5:30 AM ET): Over 20,000 users reported being unable to access the platform.
- Second Outage (9:30 AM ET): Issues escalated, with reports surpassing 40,000 users.
- Ongoing Issues (1:30 PM ET): While some regained intermittent access, disruptions persisted for several hours.
While occasional outages are normal for large-scale platforms, users expressed frustration over the timing. One X user commented on Downdetector, “On day 1 of the NFL free agency!? ELON Fix this.”
As of now, X has not provided an official statement on the cause of the outage beyond Musk’s cyberattack claim.
