Elon Musk’s interview with Donald Trump started more than 40 minutes late Monday on social network X, due to a “massive” cyberattack, according to the platform’s owner.
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The interview was initially inaccessible for long periods of time due to technical issues. Mr. Musk said they were caused by “a massive DDOS attack,” a so-called denial of service attack, designed to bottleneck the company’s servers and cause an outage.
“This massive attack illustrates the opposition of many people to even hearing what President Trump has to say,” said the Tesla and SpaceX boss when the interview finally got underway.
Elon Musk has promised a “very entertaining” time with the man he now openly supports in the race for the White House.
The conversation between the two billionaires was broadcast on Donald Trump’s account, which had been suspended after the attack on the Capitol by his supporters, but reinstated after the acquisition of the social network by Elon Musk in 2022.
The former president, however, had not yet taken back control of his former favourite communication channel, continuing to favour his own platform, Truth Social, for his daily publications.
But a salvo of messages on Monday – between campaign videos and promotion of the interview – signaled the return to X of the man who is currently trying to relaunch his campaign, which has been struggling since the entry into the race of Kamala Harris on the Democratic side.
The interview will be conducted “without a predetermined script, without limits on the topics covered and should be very entertaining!” assured Elon Musk.
- Listen to the interview with Guillaume Lavoie, associate member of the Raoul-Dandurand Chair, on Karima Brikh’s microphone via QUB :
But the exercise, between two men accustomed to outrageous and controversial statements, will also be risky, on a social network accused of having become a mouthpiece for the radical right and lax in the face of disinformation.
A few hours before the interview, European Digital Commissioner Thierry Breton warned Elon Musk, sending him a letter to remind him of his moderation obligations.
In a provocative post, Elon Musk responded with an insulting meme, while ironically saying that he would never dare to post something “so rude and irresponsible.”
The European Union “should mind its own business and not try to interfere with the American presidential election,” added Steven Cheung, Donald Trump’s spokesman.
Fiasco
The interview recalls the fiasco already suffered by X during the campaign entry of former Republican candidate Ron DeSantis, broadcast on the platform and weighed down by technical problems.
Elon Musk regularly attacks Democrats on the platform (formerly Twitter), where he has 193 million followers.
Last month, he officially endorsed the Republican candidate just after the assassination attempt on him.
The South African native has not always been a fervent defender of Donald Trump, with whom he has even publicly clashed. But the two men have continued to grow closer in recent months.
They met in March and have been speaking regularly on the phone ever since, according to the Wall Street JournalAn advisory role for the tech mogul would even be under discussion if the former president regained the keys to the White House.
The 53-year-old billionaire recently denied that he was planning to donate tens of millions of dollars a month to the former president’s campaign, as the press had reported. He spoke of levels that were “much lower.”
“I have great respect for Elon Musk, and he has great respect for me,” Trump said at a news conference last week. “Like me, he believes this country is in great trouble and in great danger.”
Different audience
Last week, Donald Trump had already sought to reach a different audience by granting an interview to a controversial influencer, Adin Ross, who is also committed to his cause and popular like Elon Musk with young men.
The former president will be in North Carolina on Wednesday to talk about the economy, then in Pennsylvania for a rally on Saturday. However, his campaign has been struggling since Joe Biden’s shock withdrawal from the race.
While the 78-year-old Republican appeared to be in a good position against the 81-year-old president, Kamala Harris’ candidacy has generated a wave of enthusiasm, which is reflected in the polls.
After a tour of key states last week, the vice president will be with Joe Biden on Thursday for a trip on the theme of the cost of living.
Next big event: the Democratic Party convention next week in Chicago, gathered around the “ticket” formed by the 59-year-old candidate and her new running mate, Tim Walz.
