The Social Security Administration (SSA) and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have completed an unprecedented records cleanup effort that is a shocker: more than 12 million individuals with Social Security numbers, listed as being more than 120 years of age, have now been officially marked as dead.
This curious alert could have wider implications for the management of Social Security and future payments, especially in the wake of heightened scrutiny of fraud and stale data within federal records.
Huge data cleaning Targets unlikely ages
In a social media tweet from DOGE on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), the SSA finished an 11-week project to remove individuals with implausibly high ages from its active files. The agency has been said to have removed approximately 12.3 million individuals as deceased, all of whom had been registered as at least 120 years old.
“11 weeks later, @SocialSecurity has finished this huge cleanup operation,” DOGE said. “~12.3M individuals in age group 120+” have been marked as deceased.”
A chart in the post separated the deceased into age brackets. The numbers were astounding:
- 3.3 million were marked as 120–129 years old
- 3.9 million as 130–139
- 3.5 million as 140–149
- 1.3 million as 150–159
- Over 124,000 were marked as 160–169 years old
DOGE acknowledged that there are some problem cases remaining, such as multiple dates of birth recorded for individuals. These will be dealt with in an upcoming follow-up project.
Accuracy and oversight concerns
While the cleanup does sound like a step in the direction of eliminating fraud and waste, it has not been without criticism. DOGE has been promoting this project for months, stating its aim to root out inefficiency in government. However, several media sources, including The New York Times, have accused DOGE of being discredited.
Past articles claim DOGE’s claims are often founded upon inaccurate statistics, bookkeeping mistakes, and outdated information. For instance, earlier studies revealed that some of the savings touted on DOGE’s website were twice or three times recounted and that some contracts reported as concluded had only been cancelled in part, and not by DOGE, but by other entities such as the Biden administration.
Questions concerning impact and verification
Up to now, the National News Desk and other free media have yet to verify figures provided by DOGE. This lack of third-party corroboration leaves room for suspicion, especially taking into account the scale of numbers reported.
At issue is the integrity of the Social Security system, upon which millions of Americans. While removing erroneous information is important, people are wondering: How did it come to pass that millions of phantom centenarians lasted so long in federal records? And how is the government making sure future records are accurate?
A step toward stifling fraud—or more political theater?
According to DOGE, their collective endeavors have saved the government an estimated $175 billion since they began operating, which calculates out to approximately $1,086 per taxpayer, in their estimate. But again, independent audits have uncovered inconsistencies in those figures as well.
Whether this gargantuan “deceased list” cleanup is a genuine indication of progress or political maneuvering is yet to be determined. In the meantime, the SSA’s data purge serves as a reminder that even at one of the country’s most important agencies, outdated records can linger for decades—until someone finally clicks delete.
