WASHINGTON: Elon Musk and his aides have taken control of the US Treasury Department’s payments system, triggering a lawsuit charging he is illegally getting access to private data of millions of Americans.

Musk, the world’s richest person, is leading President Donald Trump’s federal cost-cutting efforts under the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The suit calls on a federal judge to declare it illegal for Musk or others from DOGE to get personal information about taxpayers and to block the Treasury Department from letting that happen.

“People who must share information with the federal government should not be forced to share information with Elon Musk or his ‘DOGE’,” read a lawsuit filed in Washington by labor unions and a grassroots advocacy group.

“And federal law says they do not have to.” Musk said Monday in a post on X, the social media platform he owns, that the “only way to stop fraud and waste of taxpayer money is to follow the payment flows and pause suspicious transactions for review.”

“Naturally, this causes those who have been aiding, abetting, and receiving fraudulent payments to become very upset. Too bad,” he added. The closely guarded payments system handles the money flow of the US government, including $6tr for Social Security, Medicare, federal salaries, and others.

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2025