The anticipation of the Elon Musk interview with former President Donald Trump reached a boiling point Monday as millions of users logged in just before 8 pm to listen to the conversation.
However, many, if not most, could access the hosted space on X.
“There appears to be a massive DDOS attack on 𝕏. Working on shutting it down. Worst case, we will proceed with a smaller number of live listeners and post the conversation later,” said Musk at around 8:20 pm Eastern time.
Musk followed up by saying, “We will proceed with the smaller number of concurrent listeners at 8:30 ET and then post the unedited audio immediately thereafter.”
A DDoS attack is a type of cyberattack where malicious actors attempt to disrupt a targeted website or service by flooding it with an overwhelming amount of traffic from multiple sources.
This deluge of traffic overwhelms the target’s infrastructure, preventing legitimate users from accessing the service. DDoS attacks can be launched for various reasons, including financial gain, political activism, or simply to cause chaos.
Former President Donald Trump reactivated his X account on Monday for the first time in a year, just hours before a live interview with Musk was scheduled.
A two-and-a-half-minute campaign video marked Trump’s return to X, which he had previously shared on other social media platforms and at campaign events.
The video, which portrays him as a political target amid multiple criminal indictments, was followed by at least four additional posts within the next two hours.
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Among these posts were a promotion for the upcoming interview with Musk at 8 p.m. EDT and a jab at Vice President Kamala Harris, whom he called a “SAN FRANCISCO RADICAL.”
This activity on X comes after a long hiatus. Trump’s last post was his Fulton County Jail mugshot in 2023. Prior to that, his final post was an announcement two days after the January 6, 2021, riot stating that he would not attend President Joe Biden’s inauguration.
In conjunction with his return to the platform, Trump’s campaign began running ads on X under his @realDonaldTrump account ahead of the interview with Musk. However, data on the campaign’s spending on these ads was not yet available in X’s political advertising log, which updates periodically.
Previously, Trump’s campaign had utilized the @TeamTrump account rather than the former president’s personal account for advertising on X.
Previously, Trump’s campaign had utilized the @TeamTrump account rather than the former president’s personal account for advertising on X.