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Elon Musk claims X is under ‘massive cyberattack’

Could the X outages be the result of a massive cyberattack? Elon Musk thinks so.

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Credit: Elon Musk | X

Elon Musk claims that an ongoing outage on his social media platform X is due to a “massive cyberattack,” and he says the attack seems to have an unprecedented amount of resources behind it.

Amidst intermittent outages on X on Monday morning, Musk claimed in a post that the issues were the result of a targeted cyberattack on the platform. He also claimed that, while attacks are lodged against the platform everyday, this particular one seemed to have substantial resources behind it, which he says could be “either a large, coordinated group and/or a country.”

There was (still is) a massive cyberattack against 𝕏.

We get attacked every day, but this was done with a lot of resources. Either a large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved.

Tracing …

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When X user Hassan Sajwani responded to the post saying that “They want to silence you and this platform,” Musk simply responded “Yes” in a follow-up post. X has yet to release an official statement on the outages.

The news also comes after mass demonstrations and vandalism against Tesla’s stores and vehicles have broken out around the world in the past few weeks, in protest of Musk’s recent efforts under the Trump administration to gut a broad range of federal agencies. Arrests have been made following attacks and arson against multiple of the Tesla locations, though it’s not yet clear if the ongoing cyberattack against X could be related.

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Musk was also hosted for an interview with Fox Business on Monday following the outages, during which he said he “wasn’t sure” what had happened but that the attacks had been linked to IP addresses originating in Ukraine.

READ MORE ON X: Elon Musk’s X in talks to raise funds at $44 billion valuation: report

Musk purchased X, then called Twitter, for $44 billion in 2022, going on to launch mass layoffs at the company. About six months after the purchase, he said in an interview with BBC that the company had brought headcount down to just 1,500 from roughly 8,000, representing a cut of around 80 percent of staff.

Last month, X reported an adjusted EBIDTA of $682 million for 2024, along with about $5 billion in revenue. Wall Street Journal also reported that banks had completed a sale of $5.5 billion in debt backed by X. CEO Linda Yaccarino said in January that the company has also secured a deal with Visa to launch X Money, slated for release later this year.

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Updated 3:14 p.m. MT: Added Musk’s response in Fox Business interview.

Elon Musk’s X recruiting “hardcore software engineers”

Zach is a renewable energy reporter who has been covering electric vehicles since 2020. He grew up in Fremont, California, and he currently lives in Colorado. His work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, KRON4 San Francisco, FOX31 Denver, InsideEVs, CleanTechnica, and many other publications. When he isn't covering Tesla or other EV companies, you can find him writing and performing music, drinking a good cup of coffee, or hanging out with his cats, Banks and Freddie. Reach out at zach@teslarati.com, find him on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.

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Tesla Model 3 named New Zealand’s best passenger car of 2025

Tesla flipped the switch on Full Self-Driving (Supervised) in September, turning every Model 3 and Model Y into New Zealand’s most advanced production car overnight.

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Credit: Tesla Asia/X

The refreshed Tesla Model 3 has won the DRIVEN Car Guide AA Insurance NZ Car of the Year 2025 award in the Passenger Car category, beating all traditional and electric rivals. 

Judges praised the all-electric sedan’s driving dynamics, value-packed EV tech, and the game-changing addition of Full Self-Driving (Supervised) that went live in New Zealand this September.

Why the Model 3 clinched the crown

DRIVEN admitted they were late to the “Highland” party because the updated sedan arrived in New Zealand as a 2024 model, just before the new Model Y stole the headlines. Yet two things forced a re-evaluation this year.

First, experiencing the new Model Y reminded testers how many big upgrades originated in the Model 3, such as the smoother ride, quieter cabin, ventilated seats, rear touchscreen, and stalk-less minimalist interior. Second, and far more importantly, Tesla flipped the switch on Full Self-Driving (Supervised) in September, turning every Model 3 and Model Y into New Zealand’s most advanced production car overnight.

FSD changes everything for Kiwi buyers

The publication called the entry-level rear-wheel-drive version “good to drive and represents a lot of EV technology for the money,” but highlighted that FSD elevates it into another league. “Make no mistake, despite the ‘Supervised’ bit in the name that requires you to remain ready to take control, it’s autonomous and very capable in some surprisingly tricky scenarios,” the review stated.

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At NZ$11,400, FSD is far from cheap, but Tesla also offers FSD (Supervised) on a $159 monthly subscription, making the tech accessible without the full upfront investment. That’s a game-changer, as it allows users to access the company’s most advanced system without forking over a huge amount of money.

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Tesla starts rolling out FSD V14.2.1 to AI4 vehicles including Cybertruck

FSD V14.2.1 was released just about a week after the initial FSD V14.2 update was rolled out.

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Credit: Grok Imagine

It appears that the Tesla AI team burned the midnight oil, allowing them to release FSD V14.2.1 on Thanksgiving. The update has been reported by Tesla owners with AI4 vehicles, as well as Cybertruck owners. 

For the Tesla AI team, at least, it appears that work really does not stop.

FSD V14.2.1

Initial posts about FSD V14.2.1 were shared by Tesla owners on social media platform X. As per the Tesla owners, V14.2.1 appears to be a point update that’s designed to polish the features and capacities that have been available in FSD V14. A look at the release notes for FSD V14.2.1, however, shows that an extra line has been added. 

“Camera visibility can lead to increased attention monitoring sensitivity.”

Whether this could lead to more drivers being alerted to pay attention to the roads more remains to be seen. This would likely become evident as soon as the first batch of videos from Tesla owners who received V14.21 start sharing their first drive impressions of the update. Despite the update being released on Thanksgiving, it would not be surprising if first impressions videos of FSD V14.2.1 are shared today, just the same.

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Rapid FSD releases

What is rather interesting and impressive is the fact that FSD V14.2.1 was released just about a week after the initial FSD V14.2 update was rolled out. This bodes well for Tesla’s FSD users, especially since CEO Elon Musk has stated in the past that the V14.2 series will be for “widespread use.” 

FSD V14 has so far received numerous positive reviews from Tesla owners, with numerous drivers noting that the system now drives better than most human drivers because it is cautious, confident, and considerate at the same time. The only question now, really, is if the V14.2 series does make it to the company’s wide FSD fleet, which is still populated by numerous HW3 vehicles. 

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Waymo rider data hints that Tesla’s Cybercab strategy might be the smartest, after all

These observations all but validate Tesla’s controversial two-seat Cybercab strategy, which has caught a lot of criticism since it was unveiled last year.

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Credit: wudapig/Reddit

Toyota Connected Europe designer Karim Dia Toubajie has highlighted a particular trend that became evident in Waymo’s Q3 2025 occupancy stats. As it turned out, 90% of the trips taken by the driverless taxis carried two or fewer passengers. 

These observations all but validate Tesla’s controversial two-seat Cybercab strategy, which has caught a lot of criticism since it was unveiled last year.

Toyota designer observes a trend

Karim Dia Toubajie, Lead Product Designer (Sustainable Mobility) at Toyota Connected Europe, analyzed Waymo’s latest California Public Utilities Commission filings and posted the results on LinkedIn this week.

“90% of robotaxi trips have 2 or less passengers, so why are we using 5-seater vehicles?” Toubajie asked. He continued: “90% of trips have 2 or less people, 75% of trips have 1 or less people.” He accompanied his comments with a graphic showing Waymo’s occupancy rates, which showed 71% of trips having one passenger, 15% of trips having two passengers, 6% of trips having three passengers, 5% of trips having zero passengers, and only 3% of trips having four passengers.

The data excludes operational trips like depot runs or charging, though Toubajie pointed out that most of the time, Waymo’s massive self-driving taxis are really just transporting 1 or 2 people, at times even no passengers at all. “This means that most of the time, the vehicle being used significantly outweighs the needs of the trip,” the Toyota designer wrote in his post.

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Cybercab suddenly looks perfectly sized

Toubajie gave a nod to Tesla’s approach. “The Tesla Cybercab announced in 2024, is a 2-seater robotaxi with a 50kWh battery but I still believe this is on the larger side of what’s required for most trips,” he wrote.

With Waymo’s own numbers now proving 90% of demand fits two seats or fewer, the wheel-less, lidar-free Cybercab now looks like the smartest play in the room. The Cybercab is designed to be easy to produce, with CEO Elon Musk commenting that its product line would resemble a consumer electronics factory more than an automotive plant. This means that the Cybercab could saturate the roads quickly once it is deployed.

While the Cybercab will likely take the lion’s share of Tesla’s ride-hailing passengers, the Model 3 sedan and Model Y crossover would be perfect for the remaining  9% of riders who require larger vehicles. This should be easy to implement for Tesla, as the Model Y and Model 3 are both mass-market vehicles. 

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