Elon Musk never fails to make headlines, and his recent claim about a “massive DDoS attack” on X, formerly Twitter, is no exception. Just as Musk was gearing up for a highly anticipated interview with Donald Trump, technical issues plagued the livestream, leading to widespread speculation about what might have gone wrong. Was it really a DDoS attack, or was something else at play? Despite the technical hiccups, the interview finally kicked off—though interestingly, crypto went unmentioned throughout the entire discussion.
A Delayed Start, But a Packed Audience
On August 12, Musk took to X to announce that a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack had targeted the platform, just as his interview with Trump was about to start. A DDoS attack is designed to overwhelm a network with traffic, effectively making it unusable for legitimate users. According to Musk, this was the reason behind the 30-minute delay that left many users frustrated as they tried to join the stream.
“There appears to be a massive DDoS attack on X. Working on shutting it down,” Musk posted on X. Despite the technical hiccups, around 120,000 users managed to join the stream initially, and the interview eventually kicked off with over a million listeners tuning in.
Controversial Claims and Skepticism
As the interview progressed, Musk doubled down on his claim, stating, “As this massive attack illustrates, there’s a lot of opposition to people just hearing what President Trump has to say.” However, not everyone was convinced by this explanation. According to The Verge, an inside source suggested that there was a “99 percent chance Musk was lying” about the attack. Furthermore, Netblocks, a cybersecurity watchdog, reported that X Spaces was experiencing international outages but did not confirm a DDoS attack.
Crypto No-Show & Betting Drama
Interestingly, despite the extensive discussion on various topics ranging from immigration to AI, crypto didn’t get a mention during the two-hour interview. This was particularly surprising given Trump’s recent appearance at a BTC 2024 conference and Musk’s well-known affinity for Dogecoin (DOGE-USD). Bettors on Polymarket, a prediction market, had been so confident that Trump would mention “crypto” that they had staked over $1 million on the possibility. As the interview dragged on without a single reference to digital assets, the odds quickly plummeted to just 1%.
According to CoinDesk, one lucky user, “bama1234,” walked away with over $1 million in winnings for correctly betting that Trump wouldn’t mention crypto. It seems that while the rest of the world was waiting for the former president to drop the C-word, bama1234 was quietly cashing in.
EU Tensions & Musk’s Pushback
Adding to the drama, the European Union’s Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, had warned Musk to comply with EU laws ahead of the interview, citing concerns over the “risk of amplification of potentially harmful content.” X CEO Linda Yaccarino fired back, calling the letter an “unprecedented attempt to stretch a law intended to apply in Europe to political activities in the U.S.” and accusing Breton of patronizing European citizens.
Key Takeaway
Whether or not the DDoS attack was real, the interview itself was a reminder of just how polarizing figures like Musk and Trump can be. From the controversy over crypto’s no-show to the ongoing battle between Musk and the EU, it’s clear that when these two get together, the internet—and the world—takes notice.
