Key points
- Cyber-attack originated from Ukrainian IP addresses: Musk
- Throughout the day, X experienced three outages
- Musk pledges to reduce Social Security and Medicare
ISLAMABAD: Elon Musk claimed on Fox News Monday that Ukrainians were responsible for X shutting down earlier in the day.
The head of the controversial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) told Larry Kudlow in an interview that a “massive cyber-attack” originating from Ukrainian IP addresses was responsible for the widespread outages on his social media platform, according to BBC.
“There was a massive cyber-attack to try to bring down the X system with IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area,” Musk stated.
Coordinated group attack
Earlier, the tech billionaire had posted that the X shutdown was the result of a “coordinated group” or country, emphasising that it involved “a lot of resources.”
Throughout the day, X experienced three outages, one of which lasted for two hours. Although the hacking group Dark Storm claimed responsibility for the disruptions, Musk has not verified or confirmed this.
Musk acknowledged to Kudlow, the former director of the National Economic Council under Donald Trump and now Fox News host, that recent weeks with DOGE had been challenging.
Kudlow also highlighted the protests at Tesla stores, vandalism against Tesla vehicles, and arson at charging stations and dealerships, according to The Independent.
“Shots fired, literally,” Musk responded.
Musk facing difficulty
He also noted that he’s continuing to run his companies during the DOGE work with “great difficulty.”
Despite the challenges, Musk remains committed to his DOGE mission, accompanied by his team of 100, soon to be 200, as he told Kudlow.
Musk pledged to reduce Social Security and Medicare to save the country money, even as Trump and the Republicans push for a $4.7 trillion tax cut plan.
He reiterated his concerns about a “massive amount of fraud” in Social Security, claiming it amounts to “half a trillion dollars,” though he did not offer any supporting evidence.
“It’s a huge number,” Kudlow responded.
“Yes,” said Musk.
Protests against Tesla
Musk also claimed without evidence in a post on X Saturday that the recent protests against him at Tesla dealerships across the country (which increased on Sunday) were organised by his critics.
He accused the Democratic fundraising group ActBlue of orchestrating and funding the Tesla protests, citing a vague “investigation.” Musk named ActBlue’s “funders,” including liberal philanthropist George Soros and his billionaire adversary Reid Hoffman.
Still lacking proof for his assertion, Musk added in his post: “If you know anything about this, please post in replies. Thanks, Elon.”
Speaker’s allegations
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has similarly made unfounded claims that town hall meetings challenging Republican representatives in Red states over DOGE job cuts were also funded by Soros.
To avoid negative media coverage from these meetings, the GOP has instructed Republican lawmakers to skip holding town halls, preventing constituents from confronting them.
Hoffman responded to Musk’s accusation on X, saying: “I never funded anyone for Tesla protests.”
It’s “clear Americans are angry” with Musk, he added.
“It’s easier to explain away their anger, than to accept that actions have consequences,” Hoffman wrote, referring to Musk.
