Several legacy media pundits have criticized tech mogul Elon Musk for allegedly intervening in the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine after it was revealed he declined to provide Starlink satellite internet service during a proposed Ukranian attack on Russian ships in Crimea last year.
The revelation was made by author Walter Isaacson who shared an excerpt of his new book on the tech mogul in the Washington Post last week.
According to Isaacson, Ukrainian drones set to attack Russian ships “lost connectivity and washed ashore harmlessly” after Musk ordered the suspension of Starlink’s service.
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow said the tech mogul got “personally involved to make sure Ukraine had its hands tied in battle” during a Monday night segment.
Maddow referenced articles by The Economist and The New Yorker discussing Ukraine’s use of drones and Musk’s Starlink outages in several regions of the country.
“Musk has been geofencing all of those places in Ukraine,” Maddow said of the tech mogul. “Fencing those places off from the Starlink satellite network deliberately to hamstring the Ukraine’s military, deliberately to stop Ukraine defending its territory in this war against Russia after Russia invaded them.”
The MSNBC host noted Musk was an American citizen and the United States government was supporting Ukraine as an ally during the Russian invasion of the country.
“But there’s this one American private citizen who is intervening to try to stop Ukraine from winning the war,” she said. “To try to stop Ukraine from defending itself against this Russian invasion.”
“Trying to stop it, and in fact stopping it by turning their communication lines on and off at will as he sees fit.”
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow claims Elon Musk is deliberately hamstringing Ukraine’s military and says he is “intervening to try to stop Ukraine from winning the war. To try to stop Ukraine from defending itself against this Russian invasion” pic.twitter.com/FuElynNrcM
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) September 12, 2023
CNN pundit Jake Tapper also criticized Musk’s decision to rescind Starlink’s service to prevent escalation between Ukraine and Russia in a Monday segment with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“Musk effectively sabotaged a military operation by Ukraine, a U.S. ally, against Russia, an aggressor country that invaded a U.S. ally,” Tapper told Blinken, asking if the tech mogul should face repercussions for his actions.
Blinken noted Musk’s Starlink had been a vital tool for Ukraine communication and defense during the invasion.
“What we would hope and expect is that that technology will remain fully available to the Ukrainians,” Blinken responded.
The CNN host noted Musk reportedly expressed concern over Russia retaliating against Ukraine with nuclear weapons after the country attacked via his Starlink service, per the tech mogul’s private discussions with senior Russian officials.
Tapper suggested Musk was conducting his own diplomatic outreach to the Russian government.
Blinken said he couldn’t comment on the reported conversation between Musk and senior Russian officials which “may or may not have happened,” though reiterated Starlink’s service has been integral to Ukrainians.
“Throughout this Russian aggression, we ourselves have always had to factor in what Russia may do in response to any given thing that we or others do or the Ukrainians do,” Blinken said, noting Ukraine has had success over the last year. “Starlink is an important part of their success.”
The CNN host suggested Starlink was so important that the United States government didn’t want to “risk offending a capricious billionaire.”
MSNBC's @KatyTur is incredulous Elon Musk didn't hand control of Starlink over to the Ukrainian military pic.twitter.com/pzNNmzX2TN
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) September 11, 2023
“Clueless [News] Network is being outrageous in desperation, as their actual viewership rounds down to ~0%,” Musk wrote in response to Tapper and Blinken’s conversation.
Fellow MSNBC host Katy Tur similarly threw criticism towards Musk and Starlink.
“This one man deciding what can and cannot be done,” Tur said of Musk. “It’s a lot when one man, one single man, has that much control over world affairs.”
NBC News’ Richard Engel noted Russia agreed with Musk’s decision to limit Ukraine’s connectivity to Starlink, referring to him as “the only rational person” who recognized Russia’s nuclear threat.
On Friday, Isaacson clarified his revelation by noting Ukrainians “thought” coverage was enabled all the way to Crimea, though it was not. Musk was reportedly asked to enable coverage for their drone strike, though the Starlink owner declined citing fear of escalating the conflict.
“The onus is meaningfully different if I refused to act upon a request from Ukraine vs. made a deliberate change to Starlink to thwart Ukraine,” Musk wrote Friday in response to Isaacson’s clarification. “At no point did I or anyone at SpaceX promise coverage over Crimea.”
“Moreover, our terms of service clearly prohibit Starlink for offensive military action, as we are a civilian system, so they were again asking for something that was expressly prohibited,” he said.
Much appreciated, Walter.
The onus is meaningfully different if I refused to act upon a request from Ukraine vs. made a deliberate change to Starlink to thwart Ukraine.
At no point did I or anyone at SpaceX promise coverage over Crimea.
Moreover, our terms of service clearly… https://t.co/jmNtScM5LY
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 9, 2023
“SpaceX is building Starshield for the US government, which is similar to, but much smaller than Starlink, as it will not have to handle millions of users,” he continued. “That system will be owned and controlled by the US government.”
“I am a citizen of the United States and have only that passport. No matter what happens, I will fight for and die in America,” Musk wrote on Monday. “The United States Congress has not declared war on Russia. If anyone is treasonous, it is those who call me such. Please tell them that very clearly.”
