Elon Musk's Starlink
For weeks now, protesters in Iran have been pushing back against the Islamic regime. Venezuela is still in chaos after the U.S. ousted longtime leader Nicolas Maduro.
And in Ukraine, the war with Russia just drags on. In all these places, Starlink, the satellite internet service from Elon Musk, has become a key player in global politics.
Let’s break it down.
In Iran, Starlink sits at the heart of the fight for change. When protests erupted, the government tried to crush them by cutting almost everyone off from the internet.
Fibre lines and cell networks went down fast. But Starlink’s satellite service? Somehow, it’s still working in some spots. One guy in western Iran says he knows “dozens of people” using it, especially in border towns.
Iranians are leaning on Starlink to share protest videos and the government’s violent crackdowns with the outside world. NetBlocks, which monitors internet outages worldwide, says they’ve seen “patchy” but real Starlink access.
Starlink works differently from regular internet. Instead of cables or cell towers, it beams data from thousands of low-Earth orbit satellites straight to users.
Ground stations send the signal up, and the satellites bounce it back down.
But the Iranian government isn’t giving up. They banned Starlink this summer. Anyone caught using it faces six months to two years in prison, or even the death penalty if they’re accused of spying. Reports say the regime started jamming the service with Russian or Chinese tech.
At first, they knocked out about a third of Starlink’s traffic. Now, according to Iran Wire, they’ve disrupted more than 80 percent. Officials are hunting for dishes in western Tehran, calling it an “electronic warfare” campaign against protesters.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., Donald Trump says he wants to talk to Musk about getting Iranians back online. “He’s very good at that kind of thing,” Trump told reporters.
Musk has already backed efforts to keep Starlink running in Iran, just like he did during the protests in 2022. Right now, estimates put the number of Starlink users in Iran at somewhere between 40,000 and 50,000.
Venezuela’s story has its own twists. When the U.S. moved against Maduro, the country’s internet and power crumbled almost overnight. People turned to Starlink to figure out what was happening as airstrikes hit Caracas and confusion took over.
Over in Ukraine, Starlink became a lifeline almost immediately after Russia invaded. The Ukrainian army and government were suddenly cut off, with Russian attacks knocking out communications everywhere. By April 2025, Ukraine had more than 50,000 Starlink terminals.
They kept railways, hospitals, and schools connected whenever Russia tried to shut things down. The military relies on Starlink to plan tactics and control drones, with experts and volunteers on the front lines fixing busted gear.
Starlink isn’t just a tech company anymore. It’s right in the middle of some of the world’s biggest fights for freedom and control. And it’s changing what it means to be connected or cut off during a crisis.
Last July, Starlink systems used by Ukrainian military units were down for two and a half hours overnight as part of a global issue that disrupted the satellite internet provider.
Musk in 2022 ordered a shutdown of Starlink during a pivotal Ukrainian offensive in Kherson, a strategic region north of the Black Sea that Ukraine was trying to reclaim, causing many on the ground to panic.
There were reports that Musk was worried about what the Russians would do in response to the offensive, which ultimately failed. The aftermath of the development left many officials in Kyiv shaken.
Musk himself told the Financial Times that China had asked him to ensure none of its citizens get access to Starlink. To this day, the service remains inactive in China.
‘Dilbert’ Creator Scott Adams Dies At 68 After Metastatic Prostate Cancer Battle
Scott Adams: Scott Adams, the creator of the widely acclaimed comic strip Dilbert, has died…
Australia Places India In ‘Highest-RISK’ Category For Student Visas | What You Need to Know
Australia has tightened scrutiny of student visa applications from India after moving the country into…
Celina Jaitly: Bollywood actor Celina Jaitly has alleged that she is being denied communication with…
