- The X platform experienced issues during Elon Musk’s live chat with Donald Trump on Monday.
- Musk later pointed out that the difficulties were due to a DDOS attack.
- There was a delay of approximately 40 minutes before the conversation could begin.
Technical Glitches Mark Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s Livestream Event
This past Monday, former President Donald Trump’s anticipated livestream interview with tech mogul Elon Musk was disrupted by significant technical problems even before it commenced. Thousands of users attempted to access the live discussion scheduled for 8 p.m. ET on X, formerly known as Twitter, but were met with various issues.
Despite prior assurances from Musk about conducting multiple system scaling tests over the weekend, many users reported being completely unable to join. Some received error messages indicating that “This space is not available.”
Acknowledgment of Issues and Delay in Start Time
As time progressed past the intended start time, Musk admitted via a tweet approximately 20 minutes into the wait that there seemed to be “a massive DDOS attack on X.” He added that they were working hard to mitigate these issues and mentioned the possibility of proceeding with fewer viewers if needed. “Worst case,” he stated, “we will host this conversation for a smaller audience and share the audio afterward.”
We tested our system earlier today with up to 8 million concurrent listeners.https://t.co/ymqGBFEJX0
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk)
August 13, 2024
No immediate responses were provided by representatives from either X or Trump’s team regarding these issues when approached by Business Insider.
A Streaming Resolution After Initial Setbacks
The dialogue between Musk and Trump finally commenced around 8:41 p.m. ET after much anticipation. Interestingly, once they began talking, viewership surged quickly beyond one million listeners.
This incident brings back memories of another notable streaming failure when Florida Governor Ron DeSantis sought to launch his presidential campaign last year. His event was similarly marred by delays as Twitter struggled under an overwhelming weight of nearly half a million concurrent viewers at its peak.
