Elon Musk’s Political Influence Wears Down Global Resistance to Starlink

The global wall of resistance to Elon Musk’s satellite business is crumbling. Even before Musk spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help Donald Trump retake the US presidency, SpaceX’s Starlink was picking off swaths of the world country by country. Now, worries that the world’s richest person would subvert sensitive state-run telecommunications channels around the globe are being replaced by attempts by government officials trying to tap economic incentives from Musk’s industrial complex of companies. Musk’s new role makes it harder for some governments to resist Starlink, yet it creates more tensions for others such as Taiwan that are resisting the service. With the SpaceX chief executive officer already making his political presence felt alongside Trump on calls with foreign leaders, authorities everywhere are reckoning with how much further to open the doors to Starlink.