PRESS RELEASE: Musk-Led DOGE Infiltrates FTC, Deepening Threat to Consumers, Kids, and Competition 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Members of the Elon Musk-run “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) have reportedly infiltrated the Federal Trade Commission—the independent federal agency that protects consumers from Big Tech, privacy threats, and fraud—to pursue the DOGE’s agenda of seizing agency databases, illegally firing federal workers, and undermining protections for the public. 

The move threatens consumers, kids, and competition by further destabilizing a champion of the American consumer—an agency that has already been deeply compromised by President Trump’s illegal attempt to fire Commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya. 

“Other than billionaires and corporate executives, every American was worse off the moment Elon Musk’s DOGE set foot in the FTC building,” said EPIC Director of Litigation John Davisson. “The FTC is one of the few federal defenses against unchecked commercial surveillance and other Big Tech abuses. Bringing the corrupt DOGE playbook to the Commission is another gift to the companies that the FTC polices. It puts every American, adult or child, at greater risk from exploitative business and data practices.”  

For decades, EPIC has worked with the FTC under different administrations to safeguard consumers’ data against abuses from Big Tech, a responsibility that the agency shoulders despite being chronically underfunded. Among many actions the FTC has taken to defend consumers is a consent order restricting the use of personal data by Elon Musk’s Twitter/X due to privacy violations by the social media platform. 

EPIC and an anonymous government worker, together with counsel at Democracy Forward, brought suit last month over prior DOGE database incursions against the Treasury Department and the Office of Personnel Management. Other organizations have brought similar cases over DOGE-directed privacy violations across the federal government. 

EPIC has previously condemned President Trump’s gutting of bipartisan, independent agencies like the FTC and Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. 

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About EPIC 

EPIC (the Electronic Privacy Information Center) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit established in 1994 to protect privacy, freedom of expression, and democratic values in the information age through advocacy, research, and litigation. EPIC has long advocated for robust safeguards to protect Americans’ personal information and has played a key role in the development of the FTC’s authority to safeguard consumer privacy.