On Halloween, Elon Musk appeared again on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, where he repeated false claims about rampant fraud in the Social Security program, among other inflammatory stories about immigrants.
Musk’s claims of fraud are wrong, according to figures contained in a November 2021 report from the Social Security Administration (SSA), the independent agency that runs the program. Earlier this year on his show, Rogan even read aloud one fact-check debunking Musk’s claims about Social Security fraud. Still, Rogan reacted as if Musk’s evidence-free claims were novel findings, pushing them anew to tens of millions of his subscribers across platforms.
Musk’s false statements on Social Security go back to an Oval Office press gaggle on Feb. 11, where he claimed to have discovered recipients who were 150 years old, in what he called an example of widespread fraud. Musk’s boasts were spread by outlets like Fox Business and dramatically echoed by President Trump himself during his State of the Union address. Musk reiterated his assertion in a Feb. 16 tweet, claiming to show numbers indicating that more than 10 million people above age 120 were in the system “collecting Social Security,” and saying it “might be the biggest fraud in history.” Musk’s tweet recycled a favorite joke of his, suggesting that “vampires” might be cashing Social Security checks.
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