Elon Musk backs off reported plan to chop Social Security cellphone service after livid pushback | EUROtoday

Sign up for the every day Inside Washington electronic mail for unique US protection and evaluation despatched to your inbox

Get our free Inside Washington electronic mail

Get our free Inside Washington electronic mail

Elon Musk backed off his reported plot to chop off cellphone service for the general public to the Social Security Administration following a scorching cascade of criticism from Americans and their lawmakers.

Young DOGE workers complained to Social Security officers about cellphone fraud they’ve but to disclose or show, and known as for shutting down claims processing and questions by way of cellphone, requiring hundreds of thousands of aged and disabled Americans to make use of the web or journey to Social Security places of work to take care of points in particular person, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

DOGE was hit with fury after the information broke.

“Going after 90-year-old grandmas who can’t drive and don’t have a computer?” requested New York Governor Kathy Hochul in a submit on X. “That’s just low.”

“Gramma and Grampa are already waiting too long for answers about their Social Security,” Sen. Ed Markey wrote. “Now, Elon Musk and DOGE want to close field offices and take away their option to use the phone. This is outrageous.”

DOGE later issued a press release that the Post report was “inaccurate and misleading,” however didn’t specify how.

It did affirm that it’ll now not permit Social Security recipients to vary their direct deposit data by cellphone. People must try this by way of the web or in particular person.

The technique was broadly considered a back-door manner for Musk to start dismantling Social Security, a 90-year-old bedrock program that was instituted after the Great Depression that some 70 million Americans depend on for retirement.

Doge claims this system is rife with fraud, however has but to show it. Musk has falsely claimed that “tens of millions” of useless persons are accumulating Social Security checks, which he has complained is a “huge problem,” but can’t show it as a result of it’s not occurring.