Despite the technical hiccup, the interview featuring Elon Musk and Donald Trump finally went underway after a brief delay.
The Trump-Musk interview made headlines with cybersecurity rather than politics
The joint event was set to spotlight Trump’s re-engagement with X, the platform Musk oversees. Enthusiasm was palpable, reflected in the overwhelming traffic that initially brought server issues, mirroring a DDOS attack’s effect due to the sheer volume of access attempts.
“This Space is not available,” stated a prompt message on X when someone tried to join the Space.
Musk had dubbed this session a “conversation” rather than a formal interview, setting a casual tone for the exchange between these two high-profile figures.
There appears to be a massive DDOS attack on 𝕏. Working on shutting it down.
Worst case, we will proceed with a smaller number of live listeners and post the conversation later.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 13, 2024
Is DDoS attack on X real?
It should be noted, of course, that a DDoS attack works by overloading servers with too many requests, something that’s indistinguishable from getting a lot of visitors to a given website at once. And given the interest in both Musk and Trump as large fascist personalities, there’s obviously widespread interest in this little chat they had planned.
Despite initial speculations of a DDoS attack due to the server issues, sources confirmed to The Verge that the cause was simply an overwhelming number of user accesses, not a cyber attack. This clarification came from inside the company, highlighting the platform’s capacity to attract immense attention and underscoring the importance of such digital venues for high-profile discussions.
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Elon Musk revealed on X that the platform had successfully tested its system to support up to 8 million concurrent listeners earlier that day. This was in preparation for the anticipated influx of users eager to tune into the conversation between him and Donald Trump. Despite this robust setup, the possibility that the number of listeners exceeded these preparations is not far-fetched, given the global scale of interest in both figures.
We will proceed with the smaller number of concurrent listeners at 8:30 ET and then post the unedited audio immediately thereafter https://t.co/oxF8PsNHnZ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 13, 2024
In a separate yet related development, the Trump campaign recently confirmed a security breach after POLITICO received documents from an anonymous source. The campaign attributed the hack to “foreign sources hostile to the United States,” referencing a Microsoft report that identified a spear phishing attempt by Iranian hackers targeting a senior official within a presidential campaign in June.
Elon Musk wants roles from Trump, interview reveals
Amid these security concerns, Elon Musk, during his widely watched interview with Donald Trump, expressed a keen interest in joining a future Trump administration. Musk proposed the creation of a government efficiency commission aimed at ensuring the prudent use of taxpayer funds.
“I think it would be great to just have a government efficiency commission that takes a look at these things and and just ensures that taxpayer money… is spent in a good way. I’d be happy to help out on such a commission,” Musk stated, signaling his willingness to blend his tech expertise with government operations. He is eyeing a role that could influence governmental efficiency and fiscal responsibility.
Image credits: Kerem Gülen/Midjourney
