**SAN FRANCISCO:** A significant cyberattack disrupted X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday, impacting users across the globe. Elon Musk, the platform’s owner, suggested the outage was the result of a deliberate attack, though concerns persist about whether staff reductions under his leadership have compromised the platform’s security.
Reports of issues with X began early Monday, with users in Asia, Europe, and North America reporting difficulties accessing the platform, according to Downdetector, a service that tracks online outages. Musk later confirmed the disruption in a post on X, stating, “There was (still is) a massive cyberattack against X.” The platform experienced intermittent functionality throughout the day.
Musk also attributed last year’s crash during a scheduled live stream of an interview with Donald Trump to a cyberattack, though he provided no evidence to support this claim. In his Monday post, Musk shared a message from the DogeDesigner account, which some Reddit users speculated could be a pseudonym for Musk himself. The post referenced protests against the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a Trump-era initiative Musk was involved in, as well as vandalism at Tesla stores, hinting that the cyberattack might be linked to growing hostility toward Musk, who heads the electric car company Tesla.
The DogeDesigner account speculated that the attack required significant resources, asking, “Who has the resources to fund this?” Musk echoed this sentiment, suggesting that the scale of the attack pointed to involvement by a nation-state or a large, coordinated group.
Cybersecurity experts noted that without access to X’s internal operations, it is challenging to determine the exact nature of the disruption. However, the prolonged outage suggests a coordinated attack. “It’s cyberwar hitting at full force,” said Chad Cragle of the cyber defense platform Deepwatch. “With Musk in the spotlight and political tensions at a peak, these attacks bear all the indicators of nation-state aggression.”
The incident comes amid growing scrutiny of Musk’s leadership at X. Since acquiring the platform for $44 billion in late 2022, Musk has implemented sweeping staff cuts, raising concerns about the platform’s ability to maintain security and stability. Advocacy groups have also criticized Musk for reducing content moderation teams, which they argue has led to a rise in misinformation on the platform. Under Musk’s ownership, X has reinstated accounts belonging to right-wing conspiracy theorists and former President Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, Trump recently addressed criticism of the DOGE’s cost-cutting measures, which Musk has been overseeing. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump emphasized the need for precision in reducing government staffing and spending, stating, “We say the ‘scalpel’ rather than the ‘hatchet.’” This marked a notable effort to curb Musk’s influence over federal operations, as the DOGE’s austerity measures face increasing resistance from courts and lawmakers.
At the peak of the X outage, more than 40,000 users reported issues accessing the platform. “Twitter keeps breaking?” asked one user in Downdetector’s chat section. The disruption has reignited debates about the platform’s stability and security under Musk’s leadership, particularly given the significant reduction in staff since his acquisition.
As X works to restore full functionality, the incident underscores the challenges facing the platform amid ongoing cybersecurity threats and internal restructuring. Musk’s handling of the situation will likely remain under close scrutiny as users and experts alike assess the platform’s resilience in the face of future attacks.
