Elon Musk’s much-trailed interview with Donald Trump got off to a rocky start on Monday after what the controversial entrepreneur said was a cyber attack on his social media platform.
What was billed as a “no limits” conversation started more than half an hour late, with many people unable to listen in live, in an embarrassing setback for both men
“There appears to be a massive DDOS attack on X. Working on shutting it down,” Musk, the world’s richest man, wrote on the platform formerly known as Twitter.
The conversation between the two men was intended to help reinvigorate Trump’s stuttering campaign, which has flagged since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.
Musk, who has said he previously voted Democrat, has thrown his weight – and his wealth – behind Trump since a gunman tried to assassinate the Republican at a rally last month.
But apparent technical difficulties – which come after Musk fired swathes of staff – also served as a reminder that the Tesla boss had once backed Trump rival Ron DeSantis, whose campaign launch on the platform was also beset by problems.
“We tested the system with 8 million concurrent listeners earlier today,” Musk wrote.
Trump was banned from Twitter after a mob of his supporters stormed the US Capitol in January 2021, but Musk reinstated him when he took the platform over and renamed it.
