Did Elon Musk's Starlink receive millions of dollars from USAID? Here's what a senator from Vermont has claimed

US Senator Peter Welch recently and reportedly claimed that Starlink which is a major division of SpaceX actually received millions of dollars from USAID, reported Snopes.

According to Snopes, while it is true that USAID signed off on approximately $1 million in the Starlink products and services via third party contractors, at the same time, only around $500,000 has been paid out. The only direct contract between USAID and SpaceX was actually reported to be terminated.

While public records actually show about $1 million in contracts, a Washington Post report from the year 2022 indicated that the USAID spent $3 million on Starlink devices for the country Ukraine. Snopes asserted that this claim is unverified and USAID initially stated that they bought 1,333 devices but later retracted the statement.


Also, publicly available data indicates that USAID has spent $484,604 on Starlink products through third party contractors.

Now, the spending included $942,590.60 to Standard-Blazar which is a third party contractor for a Starlink procurement and $33,902.40 to CounterTrade Products for Starlink kits and subscriptions, some of which actually came from the countries Zimbabwe and South Africa. USAID also later stated that the Starlink terminals were made possible by a range of stakeholders whose combined contributions valued over $15 million, noted Snopes.

FAQs:

Who has recently claimed that Starlink received millions of dollars from USAID?

US Senator Peter Welch recently and reportedly claimed that Starlink which is a major division of SpaceX actually received millions of dollars from USAID.

What did a Washington Post report from the year 2022 indicate?

While public records actually show about $1 million in contracts, a Washington Post report from the year 2022 indicated that the USAID spent $3 million on Starlink devices for the country Ukraine.