Social Security sending out checks to millions of dead people? It’s not just false. It’s absurd

Elon Musk’s easily disprovable misrepresentation of a table of numbers threatens to erode confidence in one of the most reliable programs we have.

Social Security has been considered among the most efficient, cleanest government programs in the country. For instance, a study by the Inspector General of the Social Security Administration, published in July, found that from 2015-2022, the government had made $25 billion in Social Security overpayments—typically payments that went out after someone had already died.