Reports of service disruptions flooded outage tracker DownDetector, with users experiencing internet outages and, in some cases, total blackouts. Starlink and its founder, Elon Musk, confirmed the outage and said they were investigating the issue.

Starlink, owned by Elon Musk, has changed the game in terms of internet accessibility in rural and other underserved areas lacking high-speed broadband infrastructure. It has 2 million US subscribers, and more than 6 million globally.

On Friday, Reuters reported that Musk ordered SpaceX staff to cut off Starlink during a 2022 Ukrainian counteroffensive. The move, which left Ukrainian troops without communications access, raises ongoing concerns that the world’s richest man might use his control over the service to influence political and military outcomes.

The website Down Detector recorded a spike in Starlink user error reports beginning around 3 p.m., with error reports peaking around 3:30 p.m. As of this writing, the number of reports had dropped, but they were still significantly higher than the hours prior to the incident.

Looking for something to do this weekend? Arizonans could catch the first Starlink satellite launch in more than a week from neighboring California.

SpaceX, which has long deployed its Starlink satellites from Florida, is increasingly launching the missions from California. There's a good reason.

Billionaire Elon Musk ordered the shutdown of Starlink satellite internet over part of Kherson Oblast in the autumn of 2022 during a major counteroffensive operation by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Source: Reuters,

SpaceX added 24 new Starlink satellites to its orbital network on a Friday night (July 18) launch from California.

SpaceX's Starlink experienced a major outage affecting tens of thousands of users due to an internal software failure, temporarily disrupting service for millions. The outage prompted apologies from Elon Musk and Starlink's engineering team,