Elon Musk has dominated headlines during the first half of 2025 as he went from being President Trump’s top adviser and establishing the Department of Government Efficiency to publicly feuding with him. His name is also all over numerous complaints by Massachusetts residents protesting his involvement with the federal government.
Musk was the target of 170 consumer complaints to the Massachusetts attorney general’s office in February and March this year. That’s by far the most complaints filed against an individual in a two-month period on record, data from the agency show.
The complaints come amid an ongoing lawsuit by Massachusetts and a coalition of 18 other states challenging the Trump administration and DOGE’s mishandling of sensitive data, a key concern represented among the Massachusetts consumer voices.
“The President does not have the power to disclose people’s private information, and he has even less power to give an unelected billionaire that power,” Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell wrote in a statement to the Globe. She also urged additional residents to come forward if they’ve been harmed by DOGE’s “unlawful actions.”
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Although Musk no longer sits at the helm of DOGE, the agency continues to have access to troves of sensitive data, including health and education information on millions of Americans, maintained by the federal government. In June, the US Supreme Court granted DOGE access to Social Security systems containing confidential data.
The Globe obtained a sample of the 170 Massachusetts complaints against Musk. The names of complainants have been redacted by the attorney general’s office.
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“I am seeking assistance for all Americans!” wrote one person. “Elon Musk and a team of unvetted kids are operating outside agency rules and constitutional checks on executive power.”
“My complaint is that there is a billionaire apparently freely accessing confidential information related to Social Security and Medicare,” said another. “Why is he being allowed to do this? This needs to end immediately!”
The unusual number of complaints underscores the depth of anger Musk provoked in the Commonwealth during his brief tenure as a top Trump adviser.
Experts say that the complaints could also bolster the ongoing cases against DOGE, or at the very least provide a public record of the outrage.
“When you want someone handling your sensitive data, you want a career employee who has been trained on all the data and privacy protocols, not a 20-something-year-old named ‘Big Balls,’” said Chi Chi Wu, director of consumer reporting and data advocacy at the National Consumer Law Center. Wu was referring to Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old DOGE stafferand Northeastern dropout who goes by the moniker “Big Balls” and played a key role in dismantling USAID.
Musk and DOGE staffers have argued that they needed to access the confidential data to help identify fraud and streamline inefficient government processes.
But advocates argue that consumer anger toward Musk and DOGE reflects a deeper frustration – a sense that the very government charged with safeguarding personal data is the one now playing fast and loose with security.
“We overestimated how much our institutions will protect us,” said Ira Rheingold, executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates.
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Rheingold said Musk’s actions fit a broader pattern by the Trump administration of weakening consumer protections, including by attempting to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
“We live in a world right now where the federal government has completely abdicated [its] role in consumer protection,” he said. “The question is, who is going to fill that role? It’s going to be either state AGs or private organizations.”
Scooty Nickerson can be reached at scooty.nickerson@globe.com.