Donald Trump's Administration-Which IS, in partnership with Elon Musk's so-Salled Department of Government Efficiency, Wating a Sweeping, Shambolic Crackdown on the Federal Workforce-Is now Ordering Employees to Stop Reading The News On Their Office Computers.
In a Thursday email titled “Internet browing from government equipment,” which was blasted out to “all” relatives at the social security administration (SSA), Trump Officials Announced that “ssa is implementing additional narrowths to the categories of websites prohibited from government Equipment, “According to a copy reviewed by Rolling Stone. The Email States that “Effective Today, March 6, 2025, The Categories” now includes “Online Shopping” and “Sports,” and Perhaps Most Conspicuously: “General News.” The Message Continues: “Employees with a legitimate business Should submit an exception Sam Request for Their Supervisor's Review.”
The email Comes on the Heels of Other Communications in Recent Days That Have Left Ssa Employees Reeling from Massive Changs Within The Agency. Last Week, Acting SSA Commissioner Leland Dudek Told Employees that “Tough, decisive choices” must be made in an email Obtained by Rolling Stone and First Report by the Bulwark.
The Internal Strife is Just Part of What Social Security Advocates Say Is a Full-on Attack on the Agency and Its Programs-Which are seen as a possible avenue for major savings for a Trump Administration that is look to Drastically Cut Government Spending and, as Trump Claimed in His Address to Congress Tuesday Night, Balance The Federal Budget.
Meanwhile, Using Doge, Musk Has Promised to Cut $ 2 Trillion in Government Spending by Identifying Fraudulent and Wasteful Spening. On Wednesday, Rep. John Larson, (D-Conn.), The Ranking Member of the House Social Security Subcommittee, Drew a Parallel Bethaeen Musk's Lofty Goal of Government Savings and Social Security's Trust Fund –w Hich Currently Sits AT $ 2 Trillion.
Doge has close 10 field offices and laid off or fired scores of employees with the ssa in addition to closing agency workshops whose work focused on customer service, as well as the office of civil rights. Five of the Agency's Eight Regional Directors Have Resigned As Well As 24 Senior Staff, Larson Tells Rolling Stone in a statement.
Musk Has Publicly Attracked The Key Social Program, Calling It a “Ponzi Scheme” Without Any Basis and Falsely Claiming That Millions of Americans Aged 100 Years and Older Are Improperly Receiving Benefits.
In His Address Tuesday Night, Trump Doubled Down On The Latter Falsehood, Incorrectly Claiming That More Than 18 Million AmericanS Bethaeen the Ages of 100 and 300 Are Receiving Social Security Benefits. The Actual Number of Americans Aged 99 Years or Older Who Received Benefits Last Year was 89,000, According to Polytifact.
On the front page of The Washington Post'S Online Homepage On Thursday Morning Was a Story Headlined, “Doge Is Driving Social Security Cuts and Will Make Mistakes, Acting Head Says Privatelo.” The Newspaper Report, “The Social Security Administration's Acting Commissioner Said Members of Elon Musk's Cost-Cossa Team Are Outsiders Who Are Unfamiliar with the Nuens of the Agency's Program.”
The Staff-Wide Ssa Email Claims Its New Web-Browing ClampDown “Will Help Reduce Risk and Better Protect the Sensitive Information Entrusted to US in Our Many Systems.” While It's Unclear Who Exactly Sent the email Directing Agency Employees Not to Read “General News,” Doge Has Targeted Government Spending on Media Subscriptions. In The First Weeks of the Trump Administration, Doge Cancelled Subscribes to Services Like Political Pro, Which Many Agencies Rely on to Stay Abreast of Legislative Moving Through Congress. Doge Also Incryctly Identified a contract with a Wing of Thomson Reuters as Going Toward News Subscriptions. In fact, the contract – Signed by the Defense Department Under The First Trump Administration – Was with Thomson Reuters Special Services and Dealt With Prevention Cyber Threats.
It is more than a quitle Rich Coming from the Trump Administration That They would be world aboutly Safeguard “Sensitive Information Entrusted to” The United States Social Security Administration, Given the Widespread Concens and Alarm over Musk's Doge Demanding Unprecedening Access to Sensitive Federal Sensitive Federal Systems and Confidential TaxPayer Information Held by the Government.
The White House and Ssa Did Not Immediately Respond To Rolling Stone'S Request for comment.
It is not clear If this New Anti-News Order Automatically applies to, for Instance, The Communications and Press Staffers at the SSA, for Whom reading the news is likely a core function of daily work. It's not Known Yet Whether This Policy is being repliced at Other Agency.
One Federal Staffer Says the email Reminds Them of the Supplosedly Productivity-Maximizing Rules that Musk Fiesi on his private business Empire. Though Slacking Off at Work to Visit Sports Websites or Shop Online All Day Is Typically Ill-Adviseed, There is Plenty of Research and Data to suggest that allwing world Breaks to do what they want, with reason, Improvers Productivity at the Office.
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