Never happened, Starlink wasn't turned off anywhere, it was just bad media reporting and social media bias. He refused to turn on Starlink over Crimea on a last minute request from Ukraine. It'd have meant violating US sanctions on providing services to Russian controlled territory.
> never happened, Starlink wasn't turned off anywhere
Based on Musk’s comments, he just kneecapped them in favour of Moscow [1]. Negotiators are currently using Starlink as leverage to Molotov-Ribbentrop Ukraine’s mineral resources [2].
That said, Musk is a liar. So absent a statement from Kyiv absolving him (I honestly haven’t looked for this), the best we can say is we don’t know.
Musk's support of Trump looks increasingly like it will start WW3, with Trump personally threatening action against several current NATO allies.
Musk would be correct that private individuals should not have this much power, should not take decisions about what is and isn't legal — which makes it even more hypocritical for him to have had a fight with Brazil or the UK government or offer support for any political party in Germany, let alone to be wielding a chainsaw on-stage at CPAC, being the public face of DOGE, taking his kid into the Oval Office to have a chat with the press, etc.
They already did cut it once around the Black Sea coast and prevented an attack on some Russian ships in the region. Something that USAID was investigating Starlink for (and I'm sure this next part is a total coincidence /s) and USAID was one of the first targets of the DOGE purges.
They may have. Musk denies it. Kyiv doesn’t, to my knowledge, seem to have pressed it. Can’t quite say it’s not true. But can definitely say it’s not known.
> reality is they are currently helping and noone else is in the same regard
Eutelsat’s OneWeb and Geo are currently providing services in Ukraine [1][2].
Their leadership, meanwhile, isn’t trying to undermine Kyiv at home and abroad.
> those articles linked below are about "talks" and proposals
Nope. The proposals are for expansion. Eutelsat currently provides service in Ukraine.
(Out of curiosity, where did you read that Starlink has a monopoly on satellite internet in Ukraine? Always helpful to keep track of bad sources.)
> those companies highlighted don't even have the capacity
Sure, Europe fucked up by relying on Musk. Now they have the opportunity to fix it. In the meantime, it’s insanity to divert any resources to Musk that could go to building a competitor, even if heavily subsidised. (U.S. ignoring WTO rules means dumping and state-support rules no longer apply.)
> How exactly are they a threat to the free world?
First by playing 'free market' and getting bilions in incentives from taxpayer money.
And then they will be a threat by the time Tesla will lock you into a subscription model and starlink sell your data to the government the first time it will feel threatened.
Socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor.
i say this as a tesla owner, knowing that getting rid of my tesla doesn't necessarily help anything..... and having bought my car despite Elon (certainly not because of him) a handful of years back.
Tesla's value gives Elon his money which also gives him his power. For obvious reasons Elon is VERY associated with Tesla. People are viewing purchasing a Tesla as giving Elon money, which isn't totally wrong but isn't as direct as people as saying either.
In the case of Tesla the threat is Elon himself and how he chooses to use his power. The cars (in my opinion) are not a threat IRT surveillance etc. I think its easy enough to cover the cameras etc. Of course I can be wrong, as I often am.
In the case of Starlink.... being able to use communication and internet access during an emergency to make money, or use it for influence is pretty powerful. particularly as the US govt (which Elon is a part of) pivots towards an alliance with Russia, starlink is a massive liability that Ukraine cannot count on AT ALL. Nothing is stopping Elon from pulling access to starlink at the behest of Putin. America is already pausing anti-russian activity IRT cyber attacks etc under the guise of "good faith during active negotiations". Why wouldn't starlink be next? Why can't starlink be used to suppress access to things. Remember the stories about ISPs injecting ads into content that they didn't own? Why can't starlink just start serving propaganda and misinformation instead of actual content?
These are a threat because they are not being used for the good of humanity and civilization. Elon has deluded himself into thinking that he knows what is best for the world and is using his power/money/influence/technology to assert those ideas and opinions onto the world.
Until we have literally any evidence to the contrary, Elon, Trump, and Putin can all be named interchangeably
my phone is with me, netflix has streaming data... meta has my instagram data. the data is all over, and I'm confident that its for sale across the board
Starlink isn't helping helping Ukraine out of the goodness of Elon's heart; he's being paid millions of dollars to provide a service. It's just another business deal for him that he can spin into good publicity as well. His public comments have made it very clear that he doesn't care about the Ukrainian people. Given that he's co-leading an administration that is completely aligning itself with Putin I don't expect that to continue for much longer. As soon as the payments stop, and possibly even sooner, that service will be gone.
Tesla brought EVs to the mainstream.
How exactly are they a threat to the free world?