A massive global outage on X (formerly Twitter) disrupted millions of users and jolted owner Elon Musk back into action. Now, Musk says he’s going “all in” on fixing the platform.
The billionaire, who also leads Tesla, xAI, and SpaceX, admitted that the downtime exposed serious flaws in X’s systems. He has vowed to prioritize major changes and upgrades to prevent future disruptions.
With public confidence shaken and investors raising eyebrows, Musk’s renewed focus could mean a total reset for the troubled platform and a new phase in the X evolution.
X Downtime Triggers Urgent Action from Musk
On Saturday, May 24, users across the globe experienced a major service disruption on X. The outage, which began around 3:51 p.m. Kenyan time (8:51 a.m. ET), affected thousands of users who reported issues accessing posts, notifications, and account features.
According to Downdetector, a site that tracks online service outages, more than 25,800 problem reports flooded in at the peak of the disruption. Users from North America, Europe, Africa, and parts of Asia were all hit. Although services gradually returned to normal by 10 p.m. Kenyan time, many expressed frustration over the lack of immediate communication from X.
Elon Musk didn’t stay silent for long. In a post made shortly after the outage, he acknowledged the failures and promised swift changes.
“Back to spending 24/7 at work and sleeping in conference/server/factory rooms,” Musk said. “I must be super focused on X/xAI and Tesla (plus the Starship launch next week), as we have critical technologies rolling out.”
He confirmed that the downtime was worsened by the failure of backup systems, adding, “As evidenced by the 𝕏 uptime issues this week, major operational improvements need to be made. The failover redundancy should have worked, but it did not.”
Why the Latest X Downtime Matters More Than Ever
This outage wasn’t an isolated event. Some users reported technical problems as early as Thursday, May 22, suggesting the system had been faltering for days. The latest glitch has amplified concerns that X, under Musk’s leadership, is struggling to maintain basic reliability.
Since buying the platform in October 2022, Musk has made dramatic changes—rebranding Twitter to X in 2023, slashing over half the staff, and replacing much of the leadership team. These moves have shifted the platform’s focus toward becoming an “everything app,” including financial services, video streaming, and creator monetization.
But the growing complexity of the app, combined with reduced staffing in engineering and support roles, has raised red flags about its ability to operate smoothly—especially during high-traffic periods or technical failures.
For Musk, this weekend’s X downtime could be a wake-up call. While he’s known for balancing multiple ventures, investors have increasingly voiced concern that his attention is spread too thin.
To reassure stakeholders, Musk recently said he would scale back his involvement in the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency—an advisory body created by former President Donald Trump—limiting it to just “a day or two a week.”
What’s Next for X and Its Millions of Users
Musk’s response suggests that more than just patchwork fixes are coming. With the platform’s reliability now under scrutiny, he may implement deeper structural changes in X’s tech operations, development timelines, and oversight.
Users have already seen waves of new features under his leadership, including:
- Paid verification under X Premium, giving users perks like longer posts, fewer ads, and monetization options.
- Relaxed content moderation, which has sparked global debates on misinformation and online safety.
- Restored accounts, including many previously banned for violations of platform rules.
While some praise Musk for promoting free speech and innovation, critics argue that his hands-off approach to moderation and lean staffing model have compromised platform stability.
With the next SpaceX Starship launch just days away and new AI tools rolling out via xAI, the pressure is on Musk to prove he can juggle it all—without letting X collapse under its own weight.
