Thousands of federal workers are out of a job, and further cuts are expected. Meanwhile, a federal judge has blocked the firings.

Musk first made the claims that benefits are being claimed by people who appear to have died long ago while speaking from the Oval Office with President Trump last week. He said that DOGE has performed a "cursory examination of Social Security, and we got people in there that are 150 years old."

Elon Musk indicated that a Social Security database lists millions of centenarians "with the death field set to FALSE."

Government computer systems are full of legacy quirks, and upgrading and updating them is a huge and often-fraught endeavor.

The Trump administration claimed the Social Security Administration gives payments to dead people. SSA audits revealed it happens less than suspected.