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Elon Musk, Donald Trump event on X crashes site, Tesla CEO blames cyberattack

Elon Musk was scheduled to interview Donald Trump was meant to start at 8 p.m.

Elon Musk (L) and Donald Trump (R).
David Swanson | Vincent Alban | Reuters
  • Elon Musk's much-hyped interview of Donald Trump on the social media platform X was quickly derailed by technical glitches.
  • Musk blamed a cyberattack, saying "There appears to be a massive DDOS attack on 𝕏. Working on shutting it down."
  • For many, it was a reminder of the technical disaster on X in May 2023 that botched Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign announcement.

Elon Musk's much-hyped interview of former President Donald Trump on the social media platform X was quickly derailed by technical glitches in the first minutes of the scheduled start time on Monday evening.

Social media users trying to log on to the event, which was scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. ET, reported that they could not join X's livestream platform.

Shortly after 8:20 p.m., Musk blamed a cyberattack for the freezing screens.

The glitch was reminiscent of X's technical disaster in 2023 that botched Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign launch announcement.

On Sunday, Musk, the billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO, said that he had planned a series of tests to ensure that X's livestream capabilities could handle the Monday event without technical disturbances.

The interview was billed as a buzzy, news-making event to help the Trump campaign revive its supporters after a rattling three weeks since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.

"This is unscripted with no limits on subject matter, so should be highly entertaining!" Musk wrote in a Sunday post on X, teasing the event.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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