Elon Musk’s Space Chat with Trump Begins Amid Major Technical Issues

Elon Musk’s anticipated live interview with former President Donald Trump faced significant technical issues before it could even begin. The event was scheduled for Monday evening at 8 p.m. ET on the platform owned by Musk, known as X.

As thousands of users attempted to join the live session, many encountered problems accessing it. Musk had mentioned conducting several system tests over the weekend to ensure smooth performance, but that did not prevent the platform’s crash.

Numerous users reported receiving error messages, including notifications stating, “This space is not available.” The chaos left many frustrated as they were unable to connect to the much-anticipated discussion.

About twenty minutes into the delay, Musk acknowledged the situation on X, revealing, “There appears to be a massive DDOS attack on X.” He vowed to address the situation promptly, suggesting that if the issues persisted, they would proceed with a smaller audience and later share the full conversation online.

Ultimately, Musk decided to continue with a diminished number of live listeners at 8:30 p.m. ET, promising to release the complete audio of the conversation for those who could not join in real time. The discussion eventually commenced at 8:41 p.m. ET, at which point the number of listeners skyrocketed past one million, demonstrating the sustained interest in the dialogue.

This incident recalled a previous communication blunder experienced by Musk, when his platform struggled to handle a massive influx of listeners during a campaign interview with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. That event faced delays of nearly 30 minutes due to a similar crash when nearly 500,000 users attempted to join.

In a unique prelude to the interview with Trump, Musk engaged in two live-stream gaming sessions the day before, which attracted over 2.1 million and 1.3 million views, respectively. This proactive engagement appeared directed at boosting interest and preparing for the larger event.

Musk framed his conversation with Trump as an “unscripted” and open-ended exchange, emphasizing that there would be no restrictions on the topics covered. This is a notable shift for Musk, who previously made attempts to distance himself from political controversies.

In recent months, Musk has increasingly aligned with right-wing ideologies, officially endorsing Trump for the presidency in July. Since acquiring Twitter in October 2022 and rebranding it as X, Musk has ramped up his political activity, often sharing right-leaning viewpoints and criticizing what he terms the “woke mind virus.”

The technical hurdles encountered during this particular interview highlight the ongoing challenges Musk faces in attempting to optimize X as a platform for significant live events. The demand for such discussions continues to grow, but glitches like this pose questions about the platform’s reliability.

In summary, while the live conversation with Trump drew a large online audience and generated interest, the technical issues raised concerns about X’s infrastructure. Going forward, the platform will need to bolster its capabilities to accommodate high-profile events more effectively.

Source: Business Insider