Social media platform X experienced a significant outage earlier today, leaving numerous users unable to post content. Reports of the disruption began surfacing around midday, with users flocking to other platforms to voice their frustrations. The issue appeared to be widespread, affecting both the X app and the website.
Downdetector.com, a website that tracks online service disruptions, registered a sharp increase in reports, with tens of thousands of users reporting issues. The majority of reported problems related to posting content, while others experienced difficulties with logging in or accessing the site altogether.
The outage sparked a flurry of reactions across the internet. "X outage" quickly became a trending topic on rival platform BlueSky, with some users jokingly welcoming X users to their site. The incident also fueled criticism of X's leadership and infrastructure, with some questioning the platform's stability under its current ownership.
X owner Elon Musk addressed the situation via a post on the platform, stating that X had been the target of a "massive cyberattack". He claimed the attack was executed with considerable resources, potentially by a "large, coordinated group and/or a country". Musk added that the company was actively tracing the source of the attack. Later, Musk stated on Fox Business Network that the source of the attack had been traced to IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area.
However, a pro-Palestinian group with links to Russia called “Dark Storm” claimed responsibility for the cyberattack on Telegram. Dark Storm is known for targeting countries and entities that support Israel's attack on Gaza following Hamas' attack in 2023.
Ciaran Martin, the former head of the UK's National Cyber Security Centre, told the BBC that the attack on X's servers was "a very old technique" and "not that sophisticated". He added that it was a poor reflection on the company's cyber security status.
This is not the first time X has experienced such issues. In March 2023, the platform, then known as Twitter, suffered a series of glitches that disrupted user experience. Links stopped working, some users were unable to log in, and images failed to load for others.
As of 4 PM UTC, X Support announced that the issue had been resolved and that all services were fully operational. The platform thanked users for their patience and apologized for the inconvenience. While posting functionality has been restored, the incident raises concerns about the platform's vulnerability to cyberattacks and its ability to maintain consistent uptime. The incident serves as a reminder of the challenges social media platforms face in protecting themselves from malicious actors and ensuring a reliable experience for their users.
