Social Insecurity

Elon Musk and his DOGE hackers are sabotaging Social Security—and actively messing with our data.

There's a reason The New York Times and others have been urging Americans to "back up everything important, everywhere you can."

And it's not just because "when people tinker with vital systems, things can go wrong."

We now know Elon Musk and his DOGE hackers are actively messing with the data.

How Musk is sabotaging Social Security

When it comes to Social Security, DOGE operatives (many with ties to Musk's businesses), have been granted unprecedented access to the extensive personal data of everyone with a Social Security Number—including everyone paying into and everyone currently receiving Social Security benefits.

As I wrote last month, Musk is using job cuts and service cutbacks in an attempt to "collapse the system" that tens of millions of Americans rely on.

Last night, Rachel Maddow interviewed Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works, "about the damage Donald Trump and DOGE are inflicting on Social Security, and the dire consequences that will result from any disruptions in payments and services."

Yes, they are actively messing with Social Security data

In February, Foreign Policy put it bluntly: "DOGE Is Hacking America: The U.S. government has experienced what may be the most consequential security breach in its history."

Today's Washington Post confirms it.

The Post reports that Greg Pearre, a senior Social Security technology official who opposed Musk's "illegal, cruel" plan to falsely label 6,100 living immigrants as dead and warned that the wrong people would be declared dead, has been "marched out of his office and put on leave."

And it doesn't stop with Social Security data. Musk is combining all the data he can with no regard to privacy or other laws.

As Politico reports:

Antonio Gracias, a Musk confidante whose history with the billionaire goes back more than 20 years, is quietly heading up a specialized DOGE immigration task force that’s embedded engineers and staffers across nearly every nook of the Department of Homeland Security, two of the people said. The task force is also working with DOGE operatives stationed at other agencies like the Social Security Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services, which house sensitive data on undocumented immigrants.

Mistakes, of course, are getting made.

As Aaron Reichlin-Melnick writes on Bluesky: "multiple US citizens (are) getting notices that they just leave the country because USCIS is revoking their humanitarian parole."

Among the U.S. citizens wrongly targeted for deportation is Nicole Micheroni: "an immigration lawyer born in Newton, Massachusetts" who was just given "seven days to leave the U.S."

The collapse of Social Security will be documented exclusively on X

Making matters even worse: WIRED just broke the story that in future you will need an X account to follow the collapse of Social Security in real time:

The Social Security Administration will no longer be communicating with the media and the public through press releases and “dear colleague” letters, as it shifts its public communication exclusively to X.

As Don Moynihan writes on Bluesky: "The man downsizing the government is also pushing it to keep his shitty website relevant."

The corruption here is obvious. You can no longer read posts (formerly known as tweets) on X without an active account. Signing up for that account means providing more free data to help train Elon's future AI models.

But that's not the end of it.

As WIRED notes, this Musk-induced change could be a problem not just for seniors and the disabled who struggle with technology or lack internet access or devices:

Since SSA staff cannot sign up for social media on government computers without submitting a special security request, the change could have negative consequences on the ability for employees to do their jobs.

"The SSA’s shift to Elon Musk’s X comes as the agency plans to cut its regional office workforce by roughly 90 percent," notes WIRED.

"Back up everything important, everywhere you can."

Now really is the time to save and secure the data the government has on you before Musk's hackers or other cybercriminals start altering it.

As The New York Times wrote in February:

"Even if fraudsters target (Social Security), it’s better to open an account and monitor it, regardless of whether you are collecting benefits. Otherwise, a fraudster could potentially open one in your name, using your stolen information, without your knowledge."

One thing's for sure: We can't trust Elon with our data. Even Elon's own AI knows it. When Politico asked Grok 3 whether it was trained on data from the federal government obtained by DOGE, Elon's AI responded: "it’s plausible."

Ultimately, this goes way beyond Social Security.

When the day comes (possibly quite soon) when AI truly controls our lives, what will matter most is how it was trained—and who informed its goals and values.

If Elon wins that battle, it's game over for America.

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P.S. This really is the time to get off X once and for all. Please find me on Bluesky and these other places.