Social media platform X, which was previously Twitter, had experienced intermittent halts on Monday, mainly on the app, according to Downdetector, which tracks issues reports from users on the website.
The initial outage of X, which Elon Musk purchased for $44 billion in 2022, was reported before 6am Eastern time, and it appeared that the site and app would resume functionality afterwards. However, more issues occurred around 10am, with 41,000 reports of X outages, according to Downdetector. A third spike of reported outage appeared just after 11am, leaving many users' sites behind.
The cause of the confusion was not immediately clear. In a post on the platform, Musk said X is a target for “large, coordinated groups” or “large cyberattacks” carried out by the country. He did not provide details.
More than half of the outage reports came from app users, down detector data shows.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security, presented a request for comment on the issue with X on Monday.
Representatives of X did not immediately respond to questions about what happened and whether the social media platform has returned to full usability.
In a post on encrypted messaging app Telegram, a group known as Dark Storm gained credibility after causing a halt on Monday.
It was not clear whether the halt had anything to do with the general backlash that Musk experienced due to his cost-cutting role in the Trump administration, but the turmoil took place especially during a turbulent time for the world's wealthiest man.
It made Tesla's double-digit inventory losses over weeks, protests outside electric car dealers, vandalism and a group of Musk's critics abandoning their EVs to protest his values and politics. Some of those same people have abandoned X due to other social media platforms, including Bluesky.
Neil Bigder and Kate Conger Reports of contributions.
