Thousands Report Service Interruptions
X Platform, the social media service formerly known as Twitter and owned by entrepreneur Elon Musk, experienced widespread outages on Monday morning, leaving thousands of users in the United States and the United Kingdom unable to access the service. Reports from platform monitor Downdetector indicated tens of thousands of users in the US encountered technical difficulties, while over 8,000 outage complaints emerged from the UK around 14:00 GMT. The issues persisted for some users well into the afternoon, with many struggling to refresh their feeds or load content on both mobile and desktop versions of the platform.
During the outage, many users reported seeing only a loading icon, causing frustration among those attempting to access the platform. This incident marks one of the most significant service disruptions for X in recent months. Despite efforts to restore full functionality, the platform’s users continued experiencing sporadic connection failures throughout the day.
Possible Cyber Attack Behind Disruptions
Speculation surrounding the cause of the outage grew after Musk suggested that a “massive cyber-attack” might be responsible. He claimed the attack originated from the “Ukraine area” and stated that either a coordinated group or a nation-state could be behind the disruption. However, no concrete evidence was provided to support this assertion, and no official confirmation has emerged linking any country or organization to the incident.
Alp Toker, director of the internet monitoring group NetBlocks, noted that the outages displayed characteristics consistent with a cyber-attack. He explained that the patterns resembled those of past distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, where a platform is overwhelmed with excessive internet traffic, disrupting normal operations. According to NetBlocks’ data, Monday’s disruption lasted for over six hours and had a global impact, making it one of the longest service interruptions X Platform has faced.
While Musk has previously suggested that X has been targeted by similar attacks, independent verification of such claims has remained elusive. A news channel reached out to the Ukrainian embassy in Washington, D.C., for comment on Musk’s statements, but no response has been reported so far.
Political Tensions Escalate on X
In addition to addressing the outage, Musk engaged in a public exchange with US Senator Mark Kelly. The senator, who had recently traveled to Ukraine, expressed his support for the country’s ongoing efforts amid geopolitical tensions. Musk responded by calling Kelly a “traitor” for his visit. In turn, Kelly defended his stance, stating that standing up for freedom is a fundamental principle that ensures security and stability.
The conversation, which took place directly on X, drew significant attention from users and further underscored the platform’s role as a battleground for political discourse. As the platform works to recover from the outage, discussions surrounding the incident and Musk’s comments continue to dominate online conversations.
With the X Platform service now largely restored, questions remain about the true cause of the disruption and whether similar outages could occur in the future. As X continues to evolve under Musk’s leadership, technical stability and cybersecurity will remain critical issues for the platform and its global user base.
