The DOGE team made a massive error this week when they caused the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) website to crash. This is the same agency that provides nearly $1.6 trillion in benefits to about 70 million Americans every year.
For many people, the website has been down for days, and they are worried that their personal information might be lost. On Monday, users reported problems accessing their online accounts. This came just weeks after Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) began making changes to the SSA. The crash has especially affected elderly people and low-income families who rely on the site to manage their benefits, apply for services, and handle payments.
The failure is likely the result of DOGE launching new, untested software on the SSA website, reported The Raw Story. The DOGE team, made up of six young men, is led by Musk and has faced criticism for making hasty, unproven decisions. One of the team members is even a 19-year-old college freshman.
The website now displays a simple message: “Online Service Not Available” with a vague apology, saying, “We’re sorry, but the online service you requested isn’t available right now.” This is hardly reassuring to the millions of people who rely on the site every day.
The crash has triggered panic, especially after many people who depend on the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program—like 7.4 million adults and children—were already told they couldn’t receive their payments. The situation has grown worse as people have struggled to log in, and when they do, their information is missing.
Darcy Milburn, who directs Social Security and Healthcare Policy at Arc, a nonprofit organization, says the government’s response has been shockingly weak. “Social Security’s response has been, ‘Oops,’” she said. “It’s woefully insufficient when we’re talking about a government agency that’s holding someone’s lifeline in their hands.”
Some users say that even when they can access the site, they can’t sign into their accounts, and when they do, much of their information is gone. According to the Washington Post, many outages seem to be linked to a new fraud check system imposed by the DOGE team. The problem is that the new software wasn’t tested for heavy use, meaning the website couldn’t handle the demand.
This latest mess comes as President Trump continues his push to overhaul the SSA. Since he took office, around 7,000 employees have been fired, with plans for thousands more layoffs.
Musk has been outspoken about his negative view of Social Security, calling it a “Ponzi scheme” and claiming it sends checks to dead people. However, a 2024 report from the agency’s inspector general showed that less than 1% of payments were incorrect between 2015 and 2022.
The website crash isn’t the only issue. People have also been dealing with long wait times on calls, missed payments, and malfunctioning online accounts.
“At DOGE, we talked about this from the beginning… we’re going to do 80 percent cuts, but 20 percent of those are going to have to be reinstalled, because we’ll make mistakes,” said Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, according to Politico.
A court recently blocked DOGE from accessing sensitive SSA data, and another lawsuit has challenged the legality of the mass layoffs. But both workers and users are calling Musk’s leadership a disaster.
