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President Donald Trump wasted no time to take action following his inauguration by implementing the Department of Government Efficiency on his first day in office.

Elon Musk, now an unelected “special government official” and leader of DOGE, holds one of the most dangerous positions in our government with Trump wrapped around his finger.

Despite Musk’s proclaimed desire not to become publicly involved in the political world, he posted his endorsement for Trump as the Republican candidate on X following the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. Not only did Musk endorse Trump on his social media, but he donated $288 million to assert his role in the cabinet.

This endorsement didn’t come as a complete shock as Musk openly identifies as a moderate-leaning libertarian. As it appears, the White House’s conservative campaign, influenced by Musk, is prioritizing libertarian ideals.

Following Trump’s victory in November, he selected Musk — the richest person in the world — to lead what remains of the former United States Digital Service Office, now known as DOGE. The new department aims to eradicate “wasteful” government spending, which is ironically still a key issue. In Trump’s first term, he approved $8.4 trillion of new, ten-year borrowing, according to the Committee for Responsible Federal Budget.

Musk already holds undeniable influence over our current digital media landscape as the owner of X. This especially holds threatening weight for younger generations — including Generation Z — who’ve grown up surrounded by technology at home and in school, never knowing a world without it. Between everyday posts, comments and likes, we are the most chronically online generation and represent a massive user-base susceptible to Musk’s algorithmic manipulation.

Recently, DOGE has induced a swarm of legal controversy as Musk’s agenda to collect the personal data of all U.S. residents becomes more brazen. This doesn’t exclude students, heightening for those in college as we begin to apply online media skills professionally.

The Social Security Administration filters a plethora of personal data, including bank information, social security numbers, employment history and more. What should be concerning students are the hidden reasons why Musk wants this data, what he’ll do with it and the methods he’s using to see it.

In the past month, alongside his staff, Musk has tried to gain access to at least seven governmental databases. We’re unsure of the extent of information they’ve collected, but Trump confirmed that Musk’s been granted access to the Treasury Department’s critical payment system. This is extremely disturbing considering personal information is meant to stay classified to protect American national security.

The typical process of collecting classified information is something only granted to government employees and contractors who’ve undergone meticulous investigation and have legal reasons to obtain sensitive data — not a Big Tech titan.

Regardless, Musk has obtained a scary amount of information by evading all regulations put in place to safeguard our privacy. National security isn’t the only threat Musk brings to the table with his newfound political power, though. As the head of DOGE, he’s claiming his cost-cutting efforts across many agencies are helping.

Joe Zhao | Design Editor

One example of this is the administration’s targeting of the U.S. Department of Education’s budget, with budget cuts that now total over $900 million. This is especially punitive toward grants improving diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility policies.

Syracuse University is a private institution and doesn’t receive the same amount of federal funding, like Pell Grants, as public universities do. But still, reducing DOEd subsidies could hurt private universities like ours by slashing federal grants and altering financial aid programs that benefit students from marginalized groups.

Even more unfair, historically Black colleges and universities that rely on federal funding would likely be impacted to the extreme based on the ideology of the cuts.

Additionally, federal student loan borrowers were placed on pause and are unable to apply to income-driven repayment programs.

Critical plans that have been in place for years are on hold due to DOEd cuts enacted by Musk. Former president Joe Biden’s administration created the Saving on a Valuable Education plan, which finally provided many options for borrowers to make payments based on their income and domestic situations.

Trump’s administration recently blocked new applications to SAVE, causing an outrage from those drowning in student loan debt.

Last week, Trump held the first cabinet meeting of his second presidential term. To no surprise, Musk was in attendance and made several terrifying claims, referencing Trump’s foreboding order to be “more aggressive” with his cuts, while eerily admitting DOGE will “make mistakes” throughout its work.

Trump has given an unprecedented amount of power to one of the most influential billionaires in our country — who isn’t even an elected official. He’s consistently made demoralizing comments about women, health officials, and inclusive policies. His wealth shouldn’t place him in charge of our social security and our government’s oversight.

He doesn’t possess the clearance or skillset to handle it. The most terrifying part of Musk’s new profound political potential is that we don’t yet know the extent of his control over our daily online lifestyle.

We must lean on current news from trusted sources and stay up to date with online security updates to navigate these dangerous privacy risks.

Layla Poli is a sophomore majoring in public relations. She can be reached at lcpoli@syr.edu.

Published on March 3, 2025 at 9:57 pm