WSJ Claims Elon Musk Ordered the Throttling of Starlink Tech for Ukraine

According to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, Elon Musk was the one to give the order to throttle Ukraine’s access to Starshield, the Starlink-adjacent telecommunications tech being used to fight back against Russia’s invasion of the country. But there are still questions about how much influence the White House and President Donald Trump had in the lead up to the interference. Starshield—owned by SpaceX—is the military grade version of Starlink and is used for drone operations and battlefield communications. Ukrainian military forces lost normal access to the service last week and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it stopped them from being able to respond to Russia’s shahed drones. “Starlink wasn’t turned off – its speed was reduced,” Zelensky tweeted on Oct. 16. “And when the speed was reduced, we were unable to intercept a certain number of jet-powered ‘shaheds.’ We couldn’t use a tool that helps protect people. That’s very painful and frustrating.” Reuters originally reported on Oct. 15 that the order to throttle Ukraine had come from the White House but that cited “two US officials and a Western official briefed on the matter.” And it’s incredibly difficult to gauge who may be telling the truth in Trump’s White House. Everyone has an agenda and Trump himself is a known liar. Trump previously told reporters he didn’t know who was responsible for the interruption in service, according to NPR, insisting on Oct. 16, “I don’t know if it was anybody because it wasn’t me, and I don’t think it was Elon. And from what I understand, it’s the same as it’s always been.” The new report from the Wall Street Journal leaves some room for the possibility that Musk was just following Trump’s orders. The article cites “some U.S. officials” who insist that “Musk acted unilaterally” while citing another “person familiar with the situation” who claims that “Musk talked to multiple senior administration officials, including with Trump, before imposing the new speed cap.” Who’s actually responsible? In the end, it sounds like it doesn’t actually matter. Musk and Trump are two of the most powerful people in the world right now, operating within a system where they need each other to continue extracting enormous amounts of wealth. Defense reporter Tyler Rogoway tweeted on Tuesday that he has “reservations” about the Wall Street Journal report because the Pentagon and SpaceX have terms of service that likely mean Musk isn’t supposed to unilaterally be able to just pull the plug on something like this. “Basically, this would mean DoW has no control over its proprietary critical communications networks that it is paying mountains of money for,” Rogoway wrote, using the acronym for the Department of War. “Literally a gigantic strategic issue that would undermine future investment in Starshield.” Democrats have promised to conduct investigations of top Trump officials if they’re able to gain power in the House, Senate, or both chambers during the midterm elections next month. And Elon Musk seems to be at the top of the list for people they may investigate, according to Politico. Sen. Ruben Gallego, a Democrat from Arizona, saw the Wall Street Journal story Tuesday afternoon and tweeted: “@elonmusk you don’t have to wait for a subpoena, you can just come in on your own.” The question, of course, is whether Democrats like Gallego are able to do more than just conduct investigations. The average Dem would clearly like to see some form of justice meted out to people like Musk who took a chainsaw to the federal government with DOGE, but it remains to be seen whether there will be any consequences beyond a stern talking to in a D.C. hearing room. SpaceX didn’t respond to emailed questions on Tuesday. Gizmodo will update this article if we hear back.