A Global Outage Hits X—Musk Points to Ukraine
It was a rough Monday for X (formerly Twitter) users, as the platform suffered waves of outages that left thousands unable to load their feeds.
But according to Elon Musk, this wasn’t just a technical glitch—it was a cyberattack.
“We’re not sure exactly what happened,” Musk told Fox Business on Monday afternoon.
“But there was a massive cyberattack to try to bring down the X system, with IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area.”
That last part—mentioning Ukraine—raises more questions than answers.
Musk didn’t clarify whether he believes the attack was linked to the Ukrainian government, and IP spoofing (a technique that disguises the true origin of an attack) makes it difficult to pin down responsibility.
Outages Surge, Then Fade—But Questions Remain
According to DownDetector, the outage-tracking site, problems began at around 6 a.m. ET, when more than 20,000 users reported issues.
Just a few hours later, that number nearly doubled, peaking at around 40,000 reports by 10 a.m. ET.
Users worldwide reported the same issue: X simply wouldn’t load. The outage appeared global, based on reports from DownDetector’s international sites.
By 2 p.m. ET, the situation started improving, and by the time Musk appeared on Fox Business in the 4 p.m. ET hour, X was back up and running.
However, since DownDetector data relies on self-reported user complaints, the full scale of the disruption remains unclear.
X has yet to provide an official statement—though, to be fair, the company hasn’t had a press department for a while now.
X (formerly Twitter) is currently experiencing widespread outages, leaving users unable to use the platform normally.
Is This a Real Attack or Just Another Musk Theory?
Musk took to X early Monday to suggest that “a large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved” in the outage.
When one user theorized that someone was trying to silence him and his platform, Musk simply replied, “Yes.”
Cybersecurity experts aren’t convinced. Eric Noonan, CEO of CyberSheath, told CNN that it’s still too early to confirm whether a cyberattack was responsible. He also noted that initial statements made during or immediately after an attack should always be taken “with a grain of salt.”
This isn’t the first time Musk has attributed X’s technical hiccups to cyberattacks.
Back in August 2024, when his much-hyped conversation with Donald Trump on X started 42 minutes late, he suggested that “there was a 100% probability of DDoS attacks”—a tactic where attackers flood a server with traffic to take it offline.
While DDoS attacks have become less common in favor of ransomware, which is often financially motivated, they’re still used to cause disruption—which also makes it harder to trace the real source.
Musk’s Other Businesses Also Took a Hit
The X outage wasn’t the only challenge Musk faced on Monday. Tesla shares took a nosedive, dropping 15pc, erasing all gains since Trump’s November 2024 election.
With X’s reliability in question and Tesla investors getting nervous, it’s been a tough day for the billionaire.
But if there’s one thing Musk has proven time and time again, it’s that he thrives in the chaos.
