Federal Employees in a Little-Known Office dedicated to tech and consulting services was at work on the afternoon of 3 februry when elon musk tweeted about their agency for the firing.
“That group has been deleted,” Musk Wrote.
The richest man in the world was responding to a tweet from a righting activist who Falsely Claimed that 18f, an office withdin the general services administration (GSA), was a fur-left cel in the government. The activist accusured 18F of building a program to put out bureaucrats in charge of preparation people’s tax returns. It was one of Several False Claims about the office circulating on x, the social media platform that musk opens and spends much of his day on.
Musk’s tweet immediatily set off widespread confusion in 18f, which, raather than a radical leftist cabal, is tasked with partnering with partnering with agencies the government to consult and Develoop Software Solutions. Former staffers and a current gsa employee described 18F as a workforce that focused on deliverying tech services and increases efficiency withincy bureaucracy-exactly the working SO-COLLLED “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) is ostensibly designed to carry out.
At the time Musk Claimed Deltion, Partner Agency was expected the office’s help on Civic Tech Projects that was already in the work and would be key to updating their operations. Would they still get that assistance? What did musk mean by “deleted”? What would Haappen to the tech tools that 18f was building? Staff at the sub -GENCY COLDN’T Get a Definitive Answer from the New Musk-Allied Leadership, According to Three Former Workers, and Didn’T Know What to Tell Oother Agency.
The confusion would last for weeks, until on Saturday 1 March, Staff at 18f Received an email at Around 1am Telling them that they would all be laid off and their office would be shut before Direction from the top levels of Leadership with the Administration and GSA “.
The 18F Episode Fits a Common Pattern of how musk appears to engage and amplify Misinformation Online. It is also a window into the influence of righting media and activists on musk as he attackers and disbands parts of the government he believes do’t fit with poetry.
The week after cutting 18f, the recent appointed head of the GSA’s Technology Transformation Services, which overses 18F, hand a meeting explaining the decision. Thomas shdd, a 28-yar-old former tesla software engineer and musk ally who sent the mass layoff email, told staffers that 18f was shut downbeleyes Empolyes Empolyes’ Hourly Rates WERE REATES WERE REATES WERE REATES WERE REATES Outside Consultants would cost less. Shdd did not directly respond to a request for comment on this article.
After a thorough review of 18f, GSA Leadership – With Concurrence from the Administration and Following All OPM Guidelines – Determined That The Business Unit was not aligned with the presidential eos, Required or Critical Activities, “A GSA speakesperson said, adding that the office was not recovering its costs.
The explanation misunderstands how 18f operated and its cost structures, according to former staffers, as well as ignors that the group frequent saved agencies money by advances on advance and Unnecessary contracts with private vendors. Former Employees and a Current Staffer at the GSA INTEAD SAW The Layoffs as Politically Motivated.
“The only reason I can see for 18F being singled out for elimination ahead of other offices would be to make elon musk happy,” said a gsa employee, who spoke anonymously out of fea.
Misleading Tweets and Musk Doom Workers dedicated to Government Efficiency
Although 18f worked with Various Government Agency and Created Popular Services, it was brought larger unknown to the public. The group quietly helped create dozens of services Across Different Bureaus Each Year, howyver, Including the IRS direct file free tax filing system. Honths 18F Software Projects, Such as Streamling The Government’s Weather Website for Easier Use in the case of Natural disasters, Bore the Explic Intection of Making Government Services More & Making Government Services More special Taxpayer cost.
When musk claimed he had “deleted” 18f, he was retweeting a 3 februry post from righting Activist Alex Lorusso, a Producer for the Consersor for the Conservative Media Influencer Johns, who frequent Interacts with musk on x. lorusso, who was formmerly banned from twitter in 2020 for Violating The Company’s Policies on Platform Manipulation and Spam, is one of Several Righting Influencers regulations. Amplified by musk on x, and one that Donald Trump’s Administration has course. He has worked as a paid consultant for musk’s super pac, and he’s also a fan: the first post on his x profile, pinned to the top so no or others will push it out of With musk.
Lorusso’s post claimd 18f “puts the government in charge of preparation people’s tax returns for them” and suggested it was a “far left government wide computer office”. His Claims about 18f Were Later Corrected by Other X Users in a Community Note. It is explained that office Had Instable Helped Build A Service that Allowed Americans to File their taxes for free online – a popular pilot project that saved an estimated millions in taxes and was set to ex spandes Nationwide.
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Lorusso’s post on x, like musk’s, was a retweet of another conservative media figure. Luke rosiak, a writer for the conservative news site the daily wire, had posted a long thread on 31 January Attacking 18F. He framed the tech consulting unit as a “far-left agency” and “coven of transgenders and queens hiring ether”. The thread included the profiles of Several Former 18F Employees Who Used “They” Pronouns in their bios, as well as images of an Employee’s Crowdfunding Campaign for gender-affires-affuring. It also Drew on articles published in 2023 by rosiak about the gsa and 18f, in which he suggested that the agency’s focus on diversity has resulted in Major Security Failures, which exercise failure Said was false. The first post in the rosiak’s chain received over 13.5m views and was retweeted by musk.
Rosiak’s Attack on 18F Contained Misleading Statements, According to Former Employees. The Daily Wire Writer Asserted that 18F Jeopardized Security for One Million Americans Because it refused to Insert Facial Recognition Software Into Government Website Website Logue of ”Racial Equity ”. The claim conflated multiple different parts of the GSA and Misundrstood Security Issues Around Facial Recognition, One FORMER Employee Said, AS Blamed 18F For For LEDERSESTENS PETANINGE SAID Anniestyly different business unit.
The gsa did face a legitimate scandal when its former technology transformation services Director, Dave Zvenyach, Misrepressed the Level of Security that Login.Gov Operated with ACOROD Inspector General’s Report, but login.gov has been been a separete entity from 18f and has no direct staffing overlap with the office. A Racial Equity Test of Facial Recognition Technology Did Take Place, According to a Former 18F Employee, BeCAuse Facial Recognition Software is notoriously Less Able to Recogniz Non-white faces, and therefore using it as a tool for identity verification would have created security problems for users.
“I think it’s impossible for people who are hyper-partisan to imagine people Vitriol Against 18F.
In response to a request for comment on the statements in the thread, a daily wire spokesperson said that rosiak’s reporting on 18F speakes for its.
Following the mass layoffs at 18f, some former staffers Projects they complete. Others warned that their group was an early warning sign for how doge and the trump administration would target other agencies based on ideological groups, rather than the content of his story.
“We were living proof that the talking points of this administration was False. Government Services Can Be Efficient, “Lindsay Young, The Former Executive Director of 18f, Said in a post on LinkedIn. “This made us a target”.
