SpaceX's Starlink suffered one of its biggest international outages on Thursday when an internal software failure knocked tens of thousands of users offline, a rare disruption for Elon Musk's powerful satellite internet system.

Elon Musk issued a statement following a major global outage that knocked thousands of Starlink users offline late Thursday.

Starlink is a satellite internet constellation that works as an international telecommunication provider, part of the American aerospace company SpaceX, founded by controversial billionaire Elon Musk. The network provides coverage to around 130 countries and territories, aiming to provide global mobile broadband.

Watch Falcon 9 launch 24 @Starlink satellites to orbit from California — SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 27, 2025. The new

Elon Musk's Starlink was down for hours last night following a global outage - and users vented their fury, demanding refunds for the satellite internet service

Starlink appears to have largely recovered from a widespread outage on Thursday afternoon that affected its services across the United States and other parts of the world. Reports of service disruptions flooded outage tracker Down Detector earlier in the afternoon, with users experiencing internet outages and, in some cases, total blackouts.

Elon Musk responded to a major Starlink outage after thousands reported a blackout, with many seeing their service marked “restricted based on location."

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has bought Starlink services — but also fell into the crosshairs of Musk. In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene in 2024, Musk said FEMA was blocking deliveries of the terminals, a claim the agency called false. FEMA did not respond to repeated requests for comment on its use of Starlink.