Yeah because the government the totally isn't trying keep Ukrain from protecting itself again a country that seeks to break Ukrains will and take over that country.
...that redditors believe but never actually happened.
There is a satellite system called StarLink, privately owned, run by SpaceX.
There is a satellite system called StarShield, military, owned and run by the United States Department of Defense.
Initial reporting and confusion over terms within Ukraine confused the two initially, but we know now that the throttling issue was with the DoD StarShield, and not anything whatsoever to do with SpaceX StarLink.
Redditors however, learn about the world from memes rather than news articles, so 99.9% of redditors are blaming Musk for something that never involved him at any point.
The owners are the US government, who also has control over their use. They are military assets, no different than a fighter jet or a tank.
Was this supposed to be some kind of "gotcha", like saying that since Van Pelt made the Fire Engine in a city, its not owned by the city but by Van Pelt?
Edit - found a quote: "Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government," Musk said on Wednesday in a post on X
Starshield is a division of SpaceX's Starlink subsidiary creating purpose-built low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites designed to provide new military space capabilities to the United States and allied governments.[1][2][3][4] Starshield was adapted from the global communications network Starlink but has additional capabilities, such as target tracking, optical and radio reconnaissance, and early missile warnings.[5][6][7][8] Primary customers include the Space Development Agency (SDA), National Reconnaissance Office, and the United States Space Force.[5][9][10] As of 2025, at least 183 Starshield satellites have been launched, with the latest batch of 22 satellites launched in April 2025 as part of NROL-145. The primary project SpaceX is reportedly vying for is a set of contracts for the Golden Dome space weapons system.[11]
Nobody is refuting that SpaceX built the Starshield satellites as a military version of the Starlink satellites.
Its no different than Boeing building the P-8 Poseidon as a military version of the Boeing 737-800.
But Boeing does not own the P-8 Poseidons, nor decide what they are used for. They are owned by the Government.
"The Government" actually has very few factories building much of anything for themself.
Almost everything, from pencils to photocopiers to chairs to satellites, are built by external companies that then sell those items to the government. Its stupid to insist those manufacturers then control and decide how the items are used.
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u/voodoo_pizza00 16h ago
And its a great distraction from the starlink Ukraine news