X Faces Major Outage as Elon Musk Shifts Focus Away from Government Role

Elon Musk’s social media platform X experienced a widespread outage on Saturday, disrupting access for tens of thousands of users across the U.S., Europe, and other regions. Downdetector reported a peak of over 25,800 issue reports at 8:51 a.m. ET. Users in Germany, France, the UK, India, Canada, Spain, and Australia were also affected. Service began to recover by early afternoon, though X has yet to disclose the cause of the disruption.

As the outage unfolded, Musk posted on X, stating, “Back to spending 24/7 at work and sleeping in conference/server/factory rooms,” suggesting he was actively engaged in addressing technical issues. He added that his focus is shifting to X, xAI, Tesla, and the upcoming Starship launch, all of which involve key technological developments.

The outage comes at a time of increasing scrutiny over Musk’s multi-industry leadership. Last month, he announced plans to significantly reduce his involvement in U.S. government affairs after Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) reported declining profits and sales in early 2025. Musk, who has chaired the Department for Government Efficiency (Doge) since 2024, confirmed his time dedicated to the initiative will be sharply reduced starting next month.

Critics and investors have expressed concern that Musk’s political activities have distracted from core business operations, particularly at Tesla. His role in Doge, aimed at cutting federal spending, has made him a controversial figure in Washington. Internationally, his political influence has led to protests and Tesla boycotts in several countries, raising concerns about conflicts of interest and overreach.

Musk’s pivot back to business suggests a renewed effort to stabilize his companies amid mounting operational and reputational challenges.