Elon Musk (left) and Donald Trump (right).
David Swanson | Vincent Alban | Reuters
MuskThe much-hyped interview with the former president Donald Trump Got cheated on quickly on social media platform X technical glitch minutes before the scheduled start time Monday night.
Social media users trying to log into the event reported that they were unable to join X’s live streaming platform.
Shortly after 8:20 p.m., billionaire Tesla and SpaceX chief executive Musk blamed the screen freeze on a cyber attack. He said the company had tested the system with 8 million concurrent listeners earlier Monday to prevent any technical errors and ensure X’s live streaming capabilities could handle the event.
As the party progressed, the platform was working to resolve technical issues, and Musk said the interview would take place at 8:30 ET, regardless of which user was able to successfully join the live broadcast. He added that “unedited audio” would be released immediately thereafter.
After nearly an hour of troubleshooting, the conversation finally began around 8:45 PM ET.
Musk began the interview by apologizing for the delay and blaming an attack on company servers. There were no obvious signs of an attack, however, and the rest of the X continued to work throughout.
“This massive attack shows that there’s a lot of pushback to hearing what President Trump has to say, but I’m honored to be having this conversation,” Musk said.
In response to CNBC’s request for comment on the technical delay, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung pointed to Musk’s X post blaming it on a potential cyberattack.
The glitch was reminiscent of the 2023 technology disaster that derailed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign launch announcement.
The interview was billed as a buzzy press event designed to help the Trump campaign revive its base after three tense weeks after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.
“This is unscripted and has no restrictions on themes, so it should be a lot of fun!” Musk posted on X on Sunday, teasing the incident.
This is a development story. Please check back for updates.
