Trump administration admits DOGE may have misused Americans’ Social Security data

Recent court documents reveal that two officials from Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency may have improperly accessed and shared Social Security numbers in a controversial effort to assist a political advocacy group aiming to challenge election outcomes in various states. This unsettling revelation was initially reported by Politico and sheds light on a growing controversy surrounding the misuse of sensitive data. According to Elizabeth Shapiro, a Justice Department official, the advocacy group reached out to the DOGE team in March 2025, requesting an analysis of state voter rolls they had obtained. The group's stated mission was to uncover alleged voter fraud to overturn election results. Following this communication, one DOGE member, acting in their capacity as a Social Security Administration (SSA) employee, allegedly signed a 'Voter Data Agreement' with the advocacy group. There are serious concerns that these DOGE members accessed private information that had been deemed restricted by a court ruling, potentially sharing this data via unauthorized third-party servers. Shapiro noted that there is currently no indication that other SSA employees were aware of these communications or the agreement with the advocacy group. The extent to which data may have been shared remains unclear, but emails suggest that DOGE team members might have been solicited to help the advocacy group by accessing SSA data to cross-reference with voter rolls. Shapiro also mentioned that the SSA has referred the two DOGE employees for possible breaches of the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activities while leveraging their official roles. In a related development, a federal judge had previously ordered a halt to DOGE's members' access to SSA systems, which encompassed sensitive information including Social Security numbers, medical records, driver's license numbers, and tax data. Furthermore, an SSA whistleblower has accused DOGE of uploading hundreds of millions of Social Security records to an insecure cloud server, heightening concerns over data security and privacy.