Musk takes control of US Treasury payments systems – sparking alarm among critics

Elizabeth Warren, the senior Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, blasted the move as ‘extraordinarily dangerous’

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Elon Musk is leading US President Donald Trump’s federal cost-cutting efforts under the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE). Photo: AFP

Published: 1:03am, 4 Feb 2025Updated: 2:44pm, 4 Feb 2025

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

Musk, the world’s richest person, is leading US 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’,” reads the lawsuit filed in Washington by labour unions and a grass-roots advocacy group. “And federal law says they do not have to.”

The US Treasury Department building is seen in Washington. Photo: AFP

Musk said on 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”.

Musk takes control of US Treasury payments systems – sparking alarm among critics

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Elizabeth Warren, the senior Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, blasted the move as ‘extraordinarily dangerous’

Elizabeth Warren, the senior Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, blasted the move as ‘extraordinarily dangerous’