An interview between former U.S. President Donald Trump and tech mogul Elon Musk, held on Musk’s social media platform X (formerly Twitter), encountered significant technical difficulties, leading to a delay of 40 minutes. The interview, which had garnered immense anticipation, was plagued by disruptions, prompting Musk to address the issue publicly. He explained, “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.”
As users struggled to access the live event, hashtags like “#crashed” and “DDOS” began trending on X. The platform soon became a breeding ground for a meme frenzy, with users humorously commenting on the situation.
𝕏 engineer in charge of spaces right now pic.twitter.com/qkW7KKqtkV
— Not Jerome Powell (@alifarhat79) August 13, 2024
One user sarcastically remarked, “The best part about Twitter Spaces is how well it works.” Another added, “I’m in the Spaces. It hasn’t started yet. It seems the whole world is trying to get into this Spaces lol, so technical difficulties are expected.”
It’s not just the Trump and Elon space that’s down
They crashed the whole Spaces network on X 🤣 pic.twitter.com/WbcNhGuM3m
— Hodgetwins (@hodgetwins) August 13, 2024
Some comments pointed to the platform’s preparedness, with one person quipping, “The only site reliability engineer left at Twitter when Elon said he wanted to do another presidential candidate interview using Spaces.”
BREAKING: Internet pic.twitter.com/jR9jrzttSB
— DogeDesigner (@cb_doge) August 13, 2024
Others expressed disappointment over the technical hiccups, with a user stating, “I was really hoping they were well prepared for this one. It would have been a really good look for X. I’m definitely disappointed, and I won’t be listening to the replay. Spaces just aren’t as special as reruns. They need to figure that out.”
Me trying to join the @elonmusk and @realDonaldTrump twitter spaces pic.twitter.com/4n8wonbtuK
— wrld (@wrld_sol) August 13, 2024
Despite the initial chaos, some users tried to find a silver lining. “Oh well. It’s hard to let in 20 million plus at one time. Cry more. It’s on now and going smoothly,” commented one listener as the interview eventually got underway.
The technical challenges surrounding the interview highlighted the difficulties of managing large-scale live events on social media platforms, especially when high-profile figures like Trump and Musk are involved. While the glitches may have sparked frustration, they also provided ample material for the online community to turn the situation into a lighthearted meme fest.
