Employees at the Social Security Administration (SSA) were notified on Thursday morning that new rules forbade them from accessing ‘general news’ sites, including those at the forefront of reporting on Elon Musk’s so -called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge).
In an email reviewed by Wired and was addressed to “all SSA employees” from an email list called “Internal Communications”, the agency employees informed them that they were implementing additional restrictions on the categories of websites prohibited by government-linked equipment. The categories are in force today, in power: online shopping; General news; and sports. “The heading reads:” Internet browsing of government equipment. “
The email did not specify which sites should be blocked especially. However, Wired confirmed with two sources in the SSA that Wired.com is no longer accessible today, although it was previously accessible.
The sources also confirmed that the websites of the Washington Post, the New York Times and MSNBC were inaccessible. However, the sources could include access to other news sites, including politico and Axios.
“Local news has blocked,” said one source at SSA, which received anonymity about the fear of retaliation. “So if there was a local shooting or something, I wouldn’t be able to see.”
It is unclear who implemented the block list or what criteria were used to populate it, but it seems that it is not based on ideological grounds, as Fox News and Breitbart are also blocked.
The agency announced on Friday, weeks after Doge engineers were installed at SSA, that it would cut 7,000 employees. Many of the most senior staff of the agency resigned. This includes former SSA commissioner Michelle King, who has decades of experience in the agency. She was replaced by acting commissioner Leland Dudek, a middle-level staff member who claimed in a LinkedIn post, reviewed by Wired, that he was punished by King because he helped Doge engineers when they arrived for the first time. Musk and Donald Trump also continued to print the conspiracy theory that millions of dead people continue to raise benefits for social security, despite the fact that these demands have been deprived.
In the hours after the initial email was sent over the blocking of news websites, some employees received another email from their managers providing instructions on how to deactivate news on the edge of the landing. It was not a requirement, but a recommendation to help employees resist the temptation to click on news links, a source that received the e -mail told Wired.
Those who tried to visit wired.com were greeted with a page that repeated much of what was in the first email. There is also a “URL reputation” score listed, although it was unclear where the score came from, or if it had a lower on site. According to the screenshots seen by Wired, various blocked news websites received different scores.
SSA employees usually use computers with Microsoft’s Edge installed as the internet browser. According to various sources at SSA, the standard destination sheet is on the browser on the browser.