Elon Musk barred from accessing US Treasury payments data

Elon Musk’s efforts to cut US government spending faced obstacles on Thursday after a federal judge blocked the Treasury Department from sharing payment system data with 'external parties', as per reports.

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued a temporary injunction after Musk claimed that his team at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was actively working to halt Treasury remittances. The team reportedly accessed a system responsible for distributing trillions of dollars annually, including Social Security and Medicare payments.

DOGE Task force reportedly secured access to US Treasury data earlier this month.

According to a report by The New York Times, the DOGE task force had gained access to the Treasury Department, which, according to two officials who spoke to the media house, could lead to the potential breach and misuse of taxpayer information.

Following the incident, Treasury official David Lebryk resigned. Although his resignation has not been directly linked to the DOGE takeover, it reportedly came after decades of service at the department.

Soon after gaining control of the Treasury, Elon Musk took to his social media handle on X (formerly Twitter) and said,

“The @DOGE team discovered, among other things, that payment approval officers at Treasury were instructed to always approve payments, even to known fraudulent or terrorist groups.”

He added, “They literally never denied a payment in their entire career. Not even once.”

The incident sparked divided reactions, with some supporting the decision to give DOGE access, while others strongly opposing it.