Federal court filings reveal that a a member of the Trump administration’s controversial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) accessed the Social Security database and funneled the information to a political group whose stated goal was to “overturn election results,” marking a startling reversal from earlier federal denials.
In documents filed last week, the Social Security Administration (SSA) disclosed that certain DOGE staffers used an unapproved third-party server — specifically Cloudflare — to share Social Security information, despite SSA security protocols that forbid such actions. The agency still doesn’t know what data was shared or whether it remains on the server.
DOGE was created as a government “efficiency” unit under President Trump, with backing from tech billionaire Elon Musk — but its operations have been mired in controversy since the start. Initially, SSA officials insisted they hadn’t seen any evidence that Americans’ data had been mishandled. Now, the court filing publicly contradicts those claims, marking the first time the administration has formally acknowledged problematic data handling.
According to the filing, DOGE workers at SSA were using Cloudflare to transmit data outside official channels — even as an injunction intended to restrict their access was in force. Because Cloudflare isn’t authorized for Social Security data, the agency has been unable to determine what information was actually shared or who might have seen it.
The court papers also reveal that DOGE staffers entered into an unauthorized data-sharing agreement with an unnamed political advocacy group that sought to analyze voter rolls to “overturn election results” in select states. While the filing doesn’t confirm whether SSA data was handed over, emails suggest the team could have been asked to match SSA records with voter rolls — a clearly political purpose that may violate the Hatch Act.
Privacy advocates have long raised concerns about DOGE’s broad database access and lax controls. Experts warn that mishandling Social Security information — which includes names, birth dates, addresses, and other personal identifiers — violates long-standing federal privacy protections and expose Americans to identity theft or political manipulation.
Lawmakers have reacted angrily to the revelations. House Democrats, including Representative John Larson and Representative Richard Neal, have called for accountability and even prosecutions of DOGE operatives for what they describe as “abhorrent violations of the public trust.” Conservatives and watchdog groups are demanding tougher oversight of how sensitive government records are safeguarded going forward.
The latest disclosures come during ongoing legal battles over DOGE’s access to other federal data and broader scrutiny of how the Trump administration structured its data-sharing efforts — including attempts to build master databases spanning multiple agencies. While the White House has claimed compliance with federal law, the court filing now lays bare contradictions that could spur further investigations, lawsuits and calls for reforms to federal data privacy rules.
