Elon Musk's SpaceX Share Giveaway for Kids Dismissed as Publicity Stunt Amid Starlink Ukraine Controversy

If SpaceX CEO Elon Musk can’t buy the mid-term elections on behalf of the Republican Party, it’s not for lack of trying. In the latest effort, Musk has just issued a bribe to parents across the US, in the form of one share of SpaceX stock gifted to each of their kids, with plenty more where that came from. Presumably that includes minors in the US who are here without legal status. That’s quite a reversal for a the world’s richest man, who has hitched his political fortunes to anti-immigrant, white supremacist extremism. Whoa if true…

JK!

Don’t just take my word for it. “Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America,” Musk wrote on X earlier today, as cited by CNN

“This will be the first of many,” he added.

But, don’t get too excited just yet. In the message, Musk bandied words about in the loosest sense possible. “Every kid in America” most likely excludes all the kids in the Canadian part of North America, let alone all the kids in Central and South America, so it stands to reason that not all kids in the United States of America will actually get their hands on a share of SpaceX stock, too.

CNN reporter Anna Cooban was among those suggesting that the message was merely another in a long string of high profile publicity stunts, akin to last week’s “flying car” gimmick. “Musk’s proposal was thin on detail. It is not clear how those shares would be distributed to the tens of millions of American children or whether all of them would even be eligible,” Cooban observes (emphasis added).

Cooban further indicates that the offer is aimed at stealing some thunder from the high profile AI startup Anthropic, which recently announced plans for a new “Public Benefit Fund” leveraging stock valued at $48 billion, with more to come.

The funds will be aimed at establishing programs that help offset some of the job losses attributed to AI, while also offsetting some of the bad publicity earned by Anthropic as a stakeholder in an industry that has earned quite a bit of bad publicity in the US, partly on account of the AI data center construction boom.

Speaking of bad publicity, perhaps Anthropic will steer some of those monies to millions of at-risk kids around the world who were stripped of vital USAID funding by virtue of Musk’s tenure as head of US President Donald Trump’s “DOGE” budget cutting office. Musk certainly has no intention of gifting SpaceX stock, or anything else except perhaps malaria and other diseases, to millions of kids outside of the US.

SpaceX Has A Lot Of ‘Splaining To Do

The new SpaceX publicity stunt also seems designed to deflect attention from last week’s deadly turn of events in Ukraine, after Musk, Trump, or both of them, or neither of them, reportedly ordered new limits on Ukraine’s use of SpaceX satellite technology. The order abruptly curtailed the country’s ability to fend off Russian attacks on its people and civilian infrastructure.

The deadly decision — perhaps White House aide Natalie Harp was responsible?  — came at a time when US President Donald Trump is flop-sweatingly desperate to cut the cost of diesel at the pump in the 15 days remaining before Election Day. The war in Ukraine is not responsible for the price spike. Trump’s decision to bomb Iran back in February is the culprit, as everyone knows.

However, pressuring Ukraine to stop bombing Russia’s oil infrastructure is the only way Trump can deflect attention from the cost of diesel, which has become a major Election Day issue. Having failed to stop the bleeding from the Iran debacle, last month Trump tried to limit the damage by blocking diesel exports from the US. After that proposal was shot down by his own advisors, Trump executive-ordered a lift on rules that reserve “red diesel” (literally, regular diesel dyed red) for farm use, making it available to truckers. That helped neither truckers nor farmers, and so here we are.

For that matter, Ukraine clapped right back at Trump over the weekend, bombing oil facilities in St. Petersburg among other properties including a social media data center.

When You’ve Lost The EU…

As we speak, Ukraine is working on a satellite system of its own to replace the SpaceX systems. That’s going to take a while, but when it does, Ukraine will most likely hook up with the European Union, which is also in the process of untangling itself from the grip of Starlink.

“The European Commission proposed reserving part of its spectrum band exclusively for European Companies, a move that would limit Chinese and U.S. satellite operators from using the spectrum,” reported the news organization New Voice of Ukraine earlier today.

“SpaceX warned that such a move risks poorer connectivity in Ukraine where its Starlink service has been critical to civilian and military communications,” NVU added, drawing on a report in The Financial Times.

The US ambassador to the EU, Andrew Puzder, also shook his fist at the European Commission. As reported by NVU, Puzder urged the US and EU to collaborate on AI and quantum computing in order to compete against China.

Apparently Puzder did not get the memo about Trump collaborating with China, although the misstep is certainly on brand for Trump’s White House. Nobody seems to know what anybody else is doing. “The United States and China are in regular talks to iron out details of a framework announced last month for handling AI-related incidents and institutionalising bilateral dialogue,” the South China Morning Post reported on October 16. SCMP cited multiple sources that evidently contradict other readouts from Trump’s meeting with Xi last month.

Be that as it may, on October 15 the Kyiv Post added fuel to the emerging SpaceX dumpster fire, noting that the EU is “negotiating Ukraine’s access to its secure satellite communications program and could expand the system with commercial services in early 2027.”

The program, GOVSATCOM (short for Government Satellite Communications) had its initial launch back in January. The idea is to serve as a hub for secure connections that relieves EU member nations from having to negotiate with different providers for each hookup.

“For Ukraine, that could provide another route to secure communications during Russian attacks on infrastructure and interruptions to conventional networks,” the Kyiv Post notes.

Officials warn that GOVSATCOM will not necessarily replace the capabilities of SpaceX’s Starlink and/or Starshield satellites. If Elon Musk wants to provide more effective SpaceX service to the Ukraine, that’s up to him. Or maybe Trump. Or maybe nobody at all…

Image: SpaceX is in hot water over a decision to throttle back its Starlink and Starshield service in Ukraine last week, a decision for which nobody seems to have made (screenshot, Starshield satellite courtesy of SpaceX).