Trump's Administration Orders Staffers to Stop Reading the News at Work

Source: Rolling Stone

Donald Trump’s administration — which is, in partnership with Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, waging a sweeping, shambolic crackdown on the federal workforce — is now ordering employees to stop reading the news on their office computers.

In a Thursday email titled “Internet Browsing from Government Equipment,” which was blasted out to “all” staffers at the Social Security Administration (SSA), Trump officials announced that “SSA is implementing additional restrictions to the categories of websites prohibited from government-furnished equipment,” according to a copy reviewed by Rolling Stone. The email states that “effective today, March 6, 2025, the categories” now include “online shopping” and “sports,” and perhaps most conspicuously: “general news.” The message continues: “Employees with a legitimate business should submit an exception SAM request for their supervisor’s review.”

The email comes on the heels of other communications in recent days that have left SSA employees reeling from massive changes within the agency. Last week, acting SSA Commissioner Leland Dudek told employees that “tough, decisive choices” must be made in an email obtained by Rolling Stone and first reported by the Bulwark.

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The staff-wide SSA email claims its new web-browsing clampdown “will help reduce risk and better protect the sensitive information entrusted to us in our many systems.” While it’s unclear who exactly sent the email directing agency employees not to read “general news,” DOGE has targeted government spending on media subscriptions. In the first weeks of the Trump administration, DOGE cancelled subscriptions to services like Politico Pro, which many agencies rely on to stay abreast of legislation moving through Congress. DOGE also incorrectly identified a contract with a wing of Thomson Reuters as going toward news subscriptions. In fact, the contract — signed by the Defense Department under the first Trump administration — was with Thomson Reuters Special Services and dealt with preventing cyber threats.

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Read more: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-order-social-security-staffers-stop-reading-news-1235290086/