On Monday, an eagerly anticipated live conversation between Elon Musk and Donald Trump faced unexpected technical challenges, resulting in the temporary crash of an X Spaces event that was meant to mark Trump’s return to the platform. Scheduled to begin at 5:00 PM PT, the event encountered issues immediately, as users attempting to join were met with an error message stating, “This Space is not available.”
The conversation, promoted heavily by both Musk and Trump, eventually commenced at 5:42 PM PT, but the delay underscored the difficulties the platform faced in managing the event. The mishap recalls similar technical failures experienced by X (formerly known as Twitter) in May 2023, when Ron DeSantis’s 2024 campaign announcement was also disrupted during a Twitter Space event with Musk.
Musk later attributed the disruption to a “massive DDOS attack,” a form of cyber assault where a server is overwhelmed by an influx of artificial traffic. According to Musk, the platform had conducted rigorous testing earlier that day, successfully managing up to 8 million concurrent listeners. The tech mogul suggested that the attack was a deliberate attempt to silence Trump’s voice on the platform, framing it as an indication of broader opposition to the former president’s messages.
This incident occurred on the same day Trump returned to X after a prolonged absence following his ban in January 2021. His first posts in nearly three years included promotions of the conversation with Musk, as well as campaign ads and links to his official website. Despite being reinstated by Musk in November 2022, Trump had largely chosen to post on his own social media platform, Truth Social.
The technical issues highlight the ongoing challenges social media platforms face when hosting high-profile political figures, especially as they navigate the pressures of ensuring both free expression and platform integrity. The incident also raises questions about X’s capacity to handle large-scale events in a politically charged environment, given its history of similar disruptions.
While Musk’s comments about the DDOS attack add an element of intrigue, they also underscore the vulnerabilities of even the most robust digital platforms. As X continues to evolve under Musk’s leadership, these challenges may serve as a critical test of the platform’s resilience and its role in the broader landscape of political discourse.
