In countries with slow, unreliable, and in some cases censored internet service, SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet terminals are reportedly being used and traded on the black market — even in places where Elon Musk’s space company has no agreement to operate.
Starlink terminals are being used and traded illegally in countries including Yemen, Sudan, and Venezuela, Bloomberg reports. Amid the civil war in Yemen, people are dependent on Starlink for business and personal communications, a government official told the news outlet. In war-torn Sudan, Western diplomats told Bloomberg that the Rapid Support Forces — a paramilitary group that has been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity — have used Starlink for logistics. A Starlink trader in Kazakhstan told Bloomberg that the price for the internet terminals went up on the black market after a government crackdown on illegal sales. And in Venezuela, which has faced U.S. sanctions under its authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro, Starlink terminals are reportedly being sold and promoted on social media ads.
“It is deeply concerning because it’s unregulated and headed by a private company,” Emma Shortis, a senior researcher in international and security affairs at the Australia Institute, told Bloomberg. “There’s no accountability on who has access to it and how it’s being used.”
SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday morning.
In February, Ukraine’s military agency said intercepted radio indicated that Russian troops in occupied parts of the country were using Starlink satellites. Andriy Yusov, a Defense Intelligence agency spokesperson, said the use of Starlink terminals by Russian troops “is growing” and “starting to become systemic.” Ukraine received thousands of Starlink terminals in March 2022 after Russia’s invasion.
Both Musk, SpaceX’s CEO, and the Kremlin denied Ukraine’s claims. Musk called the reports “categorically false,” writing on his social media site X that, “To the best of our knowledge, no Starlinks have been sold directly or indirectly to Russia.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there “is not a certified system with us; accordingly, it cannot be officially supplied here and is not officially supplied” and therefore “cannot be used officially in any way.”
After the denials by Musk and the Kremlin, Ukraine’s military agency released an audio recording that it said was an intercepted radio transmission of Russian soldiers discussing buying Starlink terminals from “Arab countries.”