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Elon Musk’s Starlink network is experiencing an outage, leaving thousands without internet connection.

The company posted on social media: “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.”

Thousands of reports flooded the Down Detector website on Tuesday before 9pm, with 65 per cent citing a “total blackout”. The company’s website appears to be down with a “no healthy upstream” error message showing to viewers.

Starlink is a satellite internet constellation that works as an international telecommunication provider, part of the American aerospace company SpaceX, founded by controversial billionaire Musk. The network provides coverage to around 130 countries and territories, aiming to provide global mobile broadband.

People on social media have complained about what appears to be a global outage, with citizens from Colorado, Germany and Zimbabwe reporting access issues.

A customer on X said that they were lucky to have 5G on their phone, observing: “the only downfall to Starlink is when it goes down, your only alternative is your phone network”.

Recap: Earlier this year, Musk claimed X was subject to a cyber attack

This isn’t the only major infrastructural system linked to Elon Musk which has experienced an outage.

Earlier this year, Musk claimed that his social media platform X, formerly Twitter, was targeted in a “massive cyber-attack” which resulted in service outages.

“We get attacked every day, but this was done with a lot of resources,” the platform’s CEO posted. “Either a large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved.”

Bryony Gooch24 July 2025 22:13

Watch: The moment SpaceX launched its Starlink internet satellitesSpaceX launches Starlink internet satellites

Bryony Gooch24 July 2025 22:09

Everything we don’t know about the Starlink network outage

Here are the questions we still have as Starlink experiences a network outage:

How many countries have been affected?What has caused the outage?Has it impacted Ukraine’s armed forces?

Bryony Gooch24 July 2025 22:06

Number of Starlink network outage reports going down

Starlink appears to be regaining its connection as the number of outage reports are going down, according to DownDetector.

Reports originally spiked at 9pm UK time this evening, peaking at around 9,808.

(DownDetector)

Bryony Gooch24 July 2025 22:03

Concerns rise over how Ukraine’s military might be affected by Starlink outage

People online have shared their concerns for Ukraine’s armed forces amid Starlink’s outage.

Starlink has become vital to Ukrainian forces fighting Russia in order to replace internet and communication services impacted by the war.

European officials expressed concern in March this year that Starlink might cut off services in Ukraine.

Reuters reported in February that the US had threatened to cut off Ukraine’s access to Starlink satellite internet terminals if Kyiv does not reach a deal with the U.S. regarding critical mineral resources,

Musk clarified on X: “To be extremely clear, no matter how much I disagree with the Ukraine policy, Starlink will never turn off its terminals.”

Bryony Gooch24 July 2025 21:59

Musk: ‘Service will be restored shortly’

Elon Musk has apologised for the Starlink network outage that has left thousands without internet connection around the world.

“Service will be restored shortly. Sorry for the outage.

“SpaceX will remedy root cause to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”

Bryony Gooch24 July 2025 21:51

Elon Musk shares progress of Starlink’s growing Direct to Cell service

Elon Musk, who has yet to comment on the Starlink outage, posted on X around 6pm local time that Starlink’s Direct to Cell service was “growing fast” as he shared a graph that tracked growing data usage from May to July this year.

The service is supposed to enable certain phones to connect via satellite for text, voice and data in areas without terrestrial coverage.

Bryony Gooch24 July 2025 21:48

What is Starlink?

Starlink is a satellite internet constellation that works as an international telecommunication provider, part of the American aerospace company SpaceX, founded by controversial billionaire Elon Musk.

The network provides coverage to around 130 countries and territories, aiming to provide global mobile broadband.

As of May 2025, the constellation consists of over 7,600 mass-produced small satellites in low Earth orbit.

Nearly 12,000 satellites are planned, with a possible later extension to 34,400.

Bryony Gooch24 July 2025 21:46

People on social media complain about the outage

As Starlink’s network experiences an outage, netizens have taken to social media to complain.

One person commented on Reddit: “Did Elon forget to pay his electric bill?

Another said: “Looks like Elon’s got an issue on his hands…We’ve had it for 9 months and never a single hiccup until now…”

A customer on X said that they were lucky to have 5G on their phone, observing: “the only downfall to Starlink is when it goes down, your only alternative is your phone network, might be something @elonmusk needs to look fixing into the future?”

Bryony Gooch24 July 2025 21:44

Thousands report ‘total blackout’ on Down Detector

Thousands have taken to Down Detector to report the Starlink outage, with reports streaming in from just before 9pm.

Around 65 per cent of reports cite a “total blackout” while others just state there are problems accessing the internet.

(Down Detector)

Bryony Gooch24 July 2025 21:42