Musk reportedly approached Trump with Ukraine Starlink slowdown idea | indy100

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Elon Musk’s Starlink, a subsidiary of his company SpaceX, continues to play a major role in the war in Ukraine, to the extent that the tech billionaire is now under fire amid reports he suggested to US president Donald Trump that Starlink should be slowed down in the war-torn country.

According to The Telegraph, which cites four sources familiar with the discussions between Musk and Trump, the former approached the latter with the idea to impose speed limits on the internet system, with one of these sources claiming Trump “agreed” with the idea, which “[paved] the way for the Pentagon to execute the slowdown on [Starlink’s military counterpart] Starshield”.

On Thursday, a bipartisan letter was sent to the Pentagon’s inspector general, Platte B. Moring, asking for an investigation into whether the SpaceX or Department of Defense “directed, authorized, or implemented” any restrictions on Starlink or Starshield.

The question of who exactly was responsible for the slowdown of the Starshield service has prompted significant back-and-forth in recent days, with Al Jazeera reporting on the same day the aforementioned letter was sent that a defense advisor to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky posted on Telegram that SpaceX had “implemented a speed limit” on Starlink terminals.

However, on Wednesday, in response to former Ukrainian defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov tweeting that “Starlink connectivity at speeds of up to 160 km/h is being restored”, Musk said “Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government” and that “any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS”.

He added: “Starlink is a commercial service owned and controlled by SpaceX. Usage of Starlink is limited to civilian or defensive activities and cannot be used for offensive military action, as doing so would be inappropriate for a commercial company.”

As for the White House, Reuters reported on Friday that the order to limit Starshield came from inside the government building, according to “two US officials and a Western official briefed on the matter”.

And before he travelled to Georgia for a rally that same day, Trump was asked by a reporter about who gave the order to restrict Starlink, to which he replied: “I don’t know if it was anyone, because it wasn't me, and I don't think it was Elon."

SpaceX has been approached by indy100 for comment.

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