Weeks after the Social Security Administration said it was increasing transparency and accountability, the agency is reportedly moving its communications off of its website and onto the Elon Musk-owned social-media platform X.
The Social Security Administration, or SSA, has used press releases on its own website to share news — especially in the middle of the major changes announced in the last two months, including staff reductions and suggestions it pays out benefits to dead people. But the agency “will be using X to communicate to the press and the public — formerly known as Twitter,” Linda Kerr-Davis, SSA Midwest-West regional commissioner, said in a call with employees on Thursday, according to Federal News Network. “This will become our communication mechanism.”
“If you’re used to getting press releases and ‘Dear Colleague’ letters, you might want to subscribe to the official SSA X account, so you can stay up to date with agency news,” Kerr-Davis reportedly said on the call. “I know this probably sounds very foreign to you — it did to me as well — and not what we are used to, but we are in different times now.”
Wired also reported that press releases and “Dear Colleague” letters would cease to be posted on the SSA website and would instead be found on X.
It was not clear if the move to X would affect just regional offices or the agency as a whole. The SSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The agency reposted the WIRED story Friday night, claiming it was false. “Social Security will continue to communicate through any and all mediums.”
White House spokesperson Liz Huston denied the reported claims, labeling them “misleading” in a statement provided to MarketWatch. “The Social Security Administration is actively communicating with beneficiaries and stakeholders,” Huston said.
Critics took to X to share their disapproval of the reported shift to the social-media platform. “Right, because Grandma is on X. This is corruption, plain and simple,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat and a fierce opponent of the latest changes at the SSA, said in a post. Warren and fellow Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon recently created a Social Security “war room” to lobby against the modifications the SSA has been making.
Not many older American news consumers use X to get information, according to a Pew Research report published in 2024. Only 7% of X’s regular news consumers are 65 years or older, compared to 19% of people 50 to 64 years old, 36% of those 30 to 49 years old and 38% of news consumers 18 to 29 years old, the report found.
The latest SSA post on X was an update to its newest antifraud measures, including how people can proceed with changes to direct-deposit information. The agency faced massive backlash to a rule it announced in March, where individuals looking to make benefit claims or direct-deposit changes would have to go to an office in person or use their online “My Social Security” accounts instead of over the phone. The SSA later took a step back, saying individuals could continue to use the phone for these services but would be subject to antifraud checks that might require them to come in to an office if a red flag is detected.
A move to X — owned by billionaire Musk, who is also currently heading the Trump administration’s “Department of Government Efficiency” cost-cutting efforts — would come at a time when the SSA is reducing its workforce.
In her statement to MarketWatch, White House spokesperson Huston claimed “there has not been a reduction in [the SSA] workforce. Rather, to improve the delivery of services, staff are being reassigned from regional offices to front-line help — allocating finite resources where they are most needed.”
