Elon Musk’s highly anticipated interview with former President Donald Trump on the social media platform X was marred by technical glitches at the scheduled start time on Monday evening. Social media users trying to log on to the event reported that they were unable to join X’s livestream platform. Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, attributed the issues to a cyberattack, stating that they had tested the system with 8 million concurrent listeners earlier in the day to prevent technical errors.
Despite the technical difficulties, Musk assured viewers that the interview would proceed at 8:30 p.m. E.T. with those who were able to successfully join the stream. He also promised to post the “unedited audio” immediately afterwards. After nearly an hour of troubleshooting, the conversation finally began around 8:45 p.m. E.T., with at least one million people tuning in, according to X Spaces tally. Musk kicked off the interview by apologizing for the delay and reiterating the cyberattack claim.
Opinions were split on whether the technical glitches were truly the result of a cyberattack or simply technical issues. A Trump campaign spokesperson pointed to Musk’s claim of a potential cyberattack as the reason for the delay. This incident was reminiscent of a technical disaster on X in 2023 that affected Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign launch. Despite the challenges, Musk seemed determined to continue with the interview and engage in a wide-ranging, unscripted conversation with Trump.
The interview was intended to be a high-profile event for the Trump campaign, aiming to energize supporters following a difficult few weeks since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. Musk had teased the event as “unscripted with no limits on subject matter,” promising an entertaining and informative conversation with the former president. The interview quickly garnered a lot of attention and viewership, despite the technical difficulties that plagued the start of the event.
Overall, the interview between Elon Musk and Donald Trump on the X platform was a high-profile event that was eagerly anticipated by many. Despite the technical glitches that delayed the start of the conversation, Musk and Trump were eventually able to engage in a wide-ranging, unscripted discussion that attracted a large audience. The incident highlighted the challenges of hosting such events on a high-profile platform like X and raised questions about the cause of the technical issues. Nonetheless, the interview provided valuable insights and perspectives on various issues of interest to the public.
