Elon Musk Releases Statement After Starlink Global Outage

Elon Musk has issued a statement following a major global outage that knocked thousands of Starlink users offline late Thursday night.

Reports of the disruption began around 3:00 PM EST/9:00 p.m. CET, with over 60,000 users flagging connectivity issues on the Down Detector website.

Many described the Starlink incident as a “total blackout,” with service interruptions reported across Europe, the United States, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Affected areas included locations as widespread as Colombia, Sardinia, Stockholm, and New Hampshire.

Starlink, the satellite internet division of Musk’s SpaceX, acknowledged the widespread outage in a post on X (formerly Twitter), “Starlink is currently in a network outage and we are actively implementing a solution. We appreciate your patience. We'll share an update once this issue is resolved.”

Shortly after, Musk reassured users that the problem was being addressed. “Service will be restored shortly. Sorry for the outage. SpaceX will remedy root cause to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” he wrote on X.

The cause of the outage has not yet been disclosed, and it remains unclear how long full restoration will take.

As the network disruption pushed past the two-hour mark (as of 5:45 PM EST) experts began to speculate that this could be Starlink’s most significant service interruption to date.

“The Starlink outage is now in excess of two hours in duration, making this incident Starlink's longest outage since becoming a major service provider,” Doug Madory, Director of Internet Analysis at Kentik, said, per The Independent.

The outage adds to mounting concerns surrounding Starlink’s long-term stability, especially in light of recent NASA research revealing how solar activity could be threatening the company’s rapidly expanding satellite network.

Scientists from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center found that geomagnetic storms, triggered by solar eruptions, are heating Earth’s upper atmosphere, increasing drag and causing Starlink satellites in low-Earth orbit to fall faster than expected.

This isn't the first time a Musk-led platform has faced major operational disruptions.

Earlier this year, Musk revealed that X had been the target of what he described as a “massive cyber-attack.” The breach led to temporary service outages and sparked concern over the platform’s digital security.

“We get attacked every day, but this was done with a lot of resources,” Musk posted at the time, adding, “Either a large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved.”

The incident raised questions about the cybersecurity infrastructure behind Musk’s growing digital empire, especially as his platforms play an increasingly critical role in both communication and global connectivity.

As the Starlink outage stretched on, frustrated users took to social media to air their grievances, some through memes.

“Starlink is down worldwide... Sucks to live in the mountain off-grid... @Starlink do something,” one user wrote, highlighting the connectivity struggles faced by remote users who rely heavily on the satellite service.

Another chimed in, “Starlink crashing mid-war is a hell of a reminder that tech bros make lousy defense contractors,” pointing to the broader implications of relying on private tech for critical infrastructure.

Some users directed their ire straight at Musk. “Yo Mr. Elon can you give me my internet back, how tf does every single starlink satellite go out worldwide without notice,” one person posted.

Others demanded compensation, with one user writing, “You owe us all a refund for today… better see a discount on that next bill or we will have issues. You failed to provide your service.”

Starlink currently provides mobile broadband internet to more than 130 countries and territories through its growing network of satellites.

With over 12,000 satellites planned, and ambitions to expand to more than 34,000, Starlink aims to create a global high-speed internet network, even in the world’s most remote locations.