In a series of late-night posts on X last week,Elon Muskand his so-called “department of government efficiency” revealed the seemingly startling findings of their “initial survey” into unemployment benefits.They cited examples of claimants who were deceased, between one and five years old, or not born yet. They even cited one case of someone with a listed birthday in 2154 allegedly claiming $41,000.News of the claims swept across rightwing media, includingFox Newsand Breitbart, and were attributed to Doge. They wererepeatedby the secretary of labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who declared during a cabinet meeting withDonald Trumpthat the revelations were the latest to be “exposed by our partners at Doge”.“Your tax dollars were going to pay fraudulent unemployment claims for fake people born in the future!” Muskwroteon X, his social network. “There was no sanity check for impossibly young or impossibly old people for unemployment insurance.”But there was, in reality, a “sanity check” of unemployment claims years before Doge launched its blitz of the federal government – including underJoe Biden. People previously involved with the process say Doge’s claims are lifted from it.“They’re coming up like they uncovered something brand-new,” Andrew Stettner, who served as the director of unemployment insurance modernization at the US Department of Labor in the Biden administration, told the Guardian. “Going back in 2020 to say there was a lot of fraud – that’s the definition of old news.”Though Doge and Musk failed to cite the survey, or the agency it came from, the US Department of Labor’s office of inspector general is tasked with auditing state unemployment benefit systems.“They got some access to data from the Department of Labor and office of inspector general,and are trying to make conclusions without doing a full audit or understanding the content,” said Stettner.Elizabeth Pancotti, managing director of policy and advocacy at the economic thinktank Groundwork Collaborative, said: “What you have is the issue of an outside person who doesn’t know anything coming in and claiming that everything’s broken. The public should be really skeptical of Elon Musk’s claims.“For the most part, he and his gaggle of 20-year-olds are going to these federal agencies of staff who have been there for five, 10, 15, 20 years working on these programs,” added Pancotti. “For the most part, these programs work as intended.“And now you have people coming in, spending five minutes looking at them and claiming that there’s widespread fraud, or they’re broken or they could be fixed in these ways.”Back in 2023, the office of inspector general at the US Department of Laboridentifiedpotential fraud involving individuals over 100, or under the age of 14, receiving unemployment benefits.Some of the claims may not actually have contained the ages of the people filing, Stettner noted, as some states created pseudo identities to protect identity-theft victims.A 2023 Department of Labormemofound that while one state appeared to be paying benefits to scores of claimants 100 years or older, the state clarified that this was not, in fact, happening. “Rather, this was the result of how the state ensured victims of fraud were not unfairly prevented from accessing benefits,” the memo said.“This is a risk the department has already known about,” Stettner explained. “It’s already been written about. The department has put in additional cross-checks through our department integrity data analysis to flag these claims.skip past newsletter promotionSign up toThis Week in TrumplandFree newsletterA deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administrationEnter your email addressSign upPrivacy Notice:Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see ourPrivacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the GooglePrivacy PolicyandTerms of Serviceapply.after newsletter promotion“The Department of Labor has done a whole fraud-risk analysis recommended by the Government Accountability Office.”Under the Biden administration, $2bn wasallocatedto state unemployment systems to improve fraud prevention and detection.The office of inspector general at the US Department of Labor under the Biden administration had alreadyidentifiedthe potential fraud of unemployment insurance from March 2020 to April 2022 in areas such as multi-state claims, deceased persons, federal prisoners, claims from people under the age of 14 or claims from those older than 100, or the use of suspicious emails used in claims.More than 2,000 convictionswere secured following work by the office from April 2020 to January 2025, resulting in recovered funds of $1.1bn.And while the federal government has spent years investigating suspected fraud, thousands of workers who file for unemployment benefits are wrongly denied each year and are required to appeal,including286,000 workers in 2024.“It’s really not new to anyone at this point that there were fraud issues with unemployment insurance during the pandemic,” said Amy Traub, senior researcher on social insurance at the National Employment Law Project. “I think that coming back to it now is a distraction, and it’s a distraction from the fact that unemployment insurance really is not ready for a recession.”The Department of Labor’s office of inspector general declined to comment on the claims made by Musk and Doge, butcitedunemployment benefit fraud data available on its website. The dataset was last updated in December, under the Biden administration.
Doge unemployment ‘fraud’ discoveries are old finds from Biden era, experts say
TruthLens AI Suggested Headline:
"Experts Challenge Elon Musk's Claims on Unemployment Fraud as Rehashed Issues"
The Guardian
5.1
TruthLens AI Summary
Elon Musk, through his 'department of government efficiency,' recently made headlines with claims regarding unemployment fraud, asserting that examples of deceased individuals and implausibly young claimants were receiving benefits. His allegations, shared on X, included a case of someone purportedly born in 2154 claiming $41,000 in unemployment benefits. These statements quickly gained traction across right-wing media outlets, including Fox News and Breitbart, and were echoed by Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer during a cabinet meeting with Donald Trump. Musk criticized the unemployment system for a lack of sanity checks, suggesting that tax dollars were being misused to fund fraudulent claims. However, experts pointed out that the issues Musk highlighted are not new; they were already identified and addressed during the Biden administration, which had implemented measures to combat unemployment fraud long before Musk's statements. Andrew Stettner, a former director at the Department of Labor, emphasized that the claims made by Musk were merely a rehash of previously known issues, stating that the notion of widespread fraud in unemployment claims is old news.
Experts like Elizabeth Pancotti have expressed skepticism regarding Musk’s findings, suggesting that his team lacks a comprehensive understanding of the unemployment system. She noted that many career staff members at federal agencies have dedicated years to improving these programs. The Department of Labor’s office of inspector general has been actively monitoring potential fraud, identifying cases involving individuals over 100 years old or under 14. However, some reported cases were misinterpreted due to states creating pseudo identities to protect victims of identity theft. Furthermore, the Department of Labor had previously allocated funds to enhance fraud detection and prevention systems. Despite the ongoing investigations into unemployment fraud, many eligible workers still face wrongful denials of benefits, highlighting systemic issues that require attention. Experts warn that revisiting these allegations distracts from the pressing need to ensure that unemployment insurance systems are adequately prepared for economic downturns, especially as thousands of workers continue to appeal denied claims each year.
TruthLens AI Analysis
The recent reports about unemployment fraud discoveries tied to Doge, as highlighted by Elon Musk and right-wing media outlets, appear to recycle old findings from the Biden era rather than uncovering new revelations. This raises questions about the intent behind the narrative and its potential political undertones.
Context of the Claims
Elon Musk and his “department of government efficiency” alleged widespread fraud in unemployment benefits, citing absurd examples like claimants being deceased, toddlers, or even unborn (with a birth year of 2154). These claims gained traction in right-wing media and were echoed by Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer during a Trump cabinet meeting. However, experts point out that these findings were already identified and addressed during the Biden administration, making them “old news.”
Political and Media Dynamics
The framing of these claims as new discoveries by Doge and Musk suggests an effort to discredit the Biden administration’s handling of unemployment benefits while bolstering a narrative of government inefficiency. By omitting the context of prior audits under Biden, the story leans into a partisan portrayal of systemic failure, which aligns with broader conservative critiques of federal spending and oversight.
Audience and Impact
This narrative primarily resonates with right-leaning audiences who are skeptical of government programs and receptive to anti-establishment messaging. The emphasis on fraud taps into broader concerns about wasteful spending, a recurring theme in conservative media. Economically, such stories could influence public opinion on welfare programs, potentially shaping policy debates around unemployment insurance.
Credibility and Manipulation
The article’s reliance on selective reporting—highlighting sensational cases without acknowledging prior investigations—undermines its credibility. The lack of attribution to the Department of Labor’s earlier audits suggests a manipulative intent to distort timelines for political effect. The language used (“fraud,” “no sanity check”) is inflammatory and designed to provoke outrage rather than inform.
AI and Narrative Shaping
While there’s no direct evidence of AI involvement in crafting this article, the repetitive and exaggerated framing aligns with patterns seen in algorithmically amplified content. If AI were used, it might have optimized the narrative for engagement by emphasizing conflict and novelty, even where none exists.
Broader Implications
The recycling of old fraud cases could distract from current economic issues or deeper systemic challenges in unemployment systems. It also reflects a trend where partisan actors repurpose data to fit prevailing narratives, eroding trust in public institutions. Financially, the impact is likely minimal unless it fuels legislative changes to unemployment benefits.
Final Verdict on Reliability
The article is partially truthful but misleading due to its omission of key context. Its manipulative elements lie in reframing old data as a fresh scandal, likely to serve political agendas rather than factual reporting.