Elon Musk, owner of X, declared
that a "massive DDOS (distributed denial-of-service) attack"
disrupted his scheduled interview with former president Donald Trump on the
social media platform. The interview was assumed to start at 10 am AEST, but users encountered
issues when trying to access X, formerly known as Twitter.
Many users established the
page "not available" shortly after the scheduled start, although
around 214,000 people managed to join successfully. Minutes before the event,
Musk made clear that it would be a discussion rather than a formal interview,
noting: "Nobody is quite themselves in an interview, so it's hard to appreciate
what they're really like."
Musk posted about the DDOS
attack, describing that it was a cyberattack designed to flood a server or
network with traffic, trying to shut it down. He assured users that they were
working to mitigate the attack, adding that if necessary, they would proceed
with a smaller audience and post the conversation later.
Just before the rescheduled start
time, Musk announced: "We will proceed with the smaller number of
concurrent listeners at 8:30 ET and then post the unedited audio immediately
thereafter."
Earlier, Musk had introduced system
scaling tests in preparation for the conversation with Trump. Trump's account,
@realDonaldTrump, was reinstated shortly after Musk took ownership of X,
following its adjournment after the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
Trump returned to X for the
first time in a year, posting a video reiterating his claims—without
evidence—that the criminal charges he faces are politically motivated. He
quickly followed this with several other posts, reactivating an account that
had been a central communication tool during his previous campaigns and
presidency.
When the interview finally
commenced after the technical issues were addressed, Musk apologized for the
delay, attributing it to the "massive attack" that had overwhelmed
the platform.
During the conversation, Trump
recounted an assassination attempt in vivid detail, blaming the incident on
"a lack of coordination." On July 13, a man opened fire at Trump from
a nearby roof while he was addressing a crowd in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump
was injured when a bullet grazed his ear, but he told Musk that it could have
been much worse if he hadn't turned his head. "If I had not turned my
head, I would not be talking to you right now—as much as I like you,"
Trump told Musk.
Trump criticized the US Secret
Service for not securing the location properly, stating, "There was a lack
of coordination. Everybody understands that building should have been
covered." Despite the incident, Trump mentioned plans to return to Butler,
Pennsylvania, later in his presidential campaign.
