Elon Musk claims X outages were caused by a ‘massive cyber-attack’

He claimed IP addresses involved in the cyber attack were traced to locations “in the Ukraine area”

Elon Musk. Credit – SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

Elon Musk claimed that X was targeted in a “massive cyber-attack” on Monday (March 10), which resulted in intermittent outages on the platform throughout the day.

Platform outage monitor Downdetector said it had seen tens of thousands of reports from US users who were experiencing technical difficulties on the social media site. The platform, formerly known as Twitter, had been unresponsive for many users as posts failed to load when they were using the site – The Guardian reports.

Some users who were trying to access the platform and refresh feeds on both its app and desktop site during Monday’s outages were met with a loading icon

Musk, who has owned the platform since late 2022, suggested a large coordinated group or country is allegedly involved. “We get attacked every day, but this was done with a lot of resources,” Musk posted. “Either a large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved.”

 

Musk did not provide any evidence for his claims about the “cyber-attack” on X. His post was in reply to a cryptocurrency influencer who suggested the outage followed other opposition to Musk’s enterprises.

Later, on March 10, after posting, Musk claimed on Fox News that IP addresses involved in the cyber attack were traced to locations “in the Ukraine area”.

“We’re not sure exactly what happened but there was a massive cyber-attack to try and bring down the X system with IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area,” Musk said. As The Guardian reports, the X CEO has been critical of the Ukrainian government as relations between it and the Trump administration have soured.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk at the Porte de Versailles in Paris, on June 16, 2023. (Photo by JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images)
In other Elon Musk-related news, a poster has popped up in London depicting a Tesla and urging people not to buy one of the billionaire’s “Swasticars”. Spotted on the side of a bus stop in Bethnal Green, East London earlier this week, the poster leads with a banner reading: “Goes from 0 to 1939 in 3 seconds”.

The image also shows Musk photoshopped into a Tesla – the electric car company for which he is CEO – while performing his now-infamous gesture from Donald Trump’s inauguration rally in January. At the event, the billionaire slapped his chest with his right hand and flung his arm diagonally upwards in what many onlookers have condemned as being reminiscent of a Nazi salute.

Campaign group Everyone Hates Elon appears to have taken credit for the poster, sharing a photo of the banner being installed on the bus stop. “Be a shame if these popped up around the world,” they wrote on Instagram, before sharing a link to a GoFundMe campaign, promising to send a PDF of the poster to anyone who wants one.