DOGE.gov, a website claiming to be an "official website of the United States government," launched on Thursday morning, quickly drawing attention and scrutiny. The site appears to be little more than a glorified feed of posts from the official DOGE account on Elon Musk's X platform. This development raises questions about the purpose and functionality of the site, which features sections labeled "Savings" and "Regulations," including the intriguingly named "Unconstitutionality Index."
The website, while presenting as an official government page, heavily promotes Musk's own platform, X, as the primary source of content. The site's source code instructs search engines to display posts from X rather than DOGE.gov's own pages when users search for related content. According to web developer Declan Chidlow,
“It seems that the DOGE website is secondary, and they are prodding people in the direction of the X account everywhere they can.”
Chidlow further commented on the site's function, stating,
“It is promoting the X account as the main source, with the website secondary.”
In addition to its role as a promotional tool for X, DOGE.gov includes a "Join" page for prospective employees interested in roles such as software engineers and InfoSec engineers. Applicants are required to provide a Github account, résumé, and 2-3 bullet points demonstrating exceptional ability. Despite not listing a developer, web application security expert Sam Curry identified Kyle Shutt, a DOGE employee with ties to an AI interviewing software company, as the site's developer.
The website's "Workforce" section showcases bar charts detailing employment numbers across various government agencies, utilizing data sourced from the Office of Personnel Management as of March 2024. However, the "Savings" section lacks detailed breakdowns of Musk's claimed cost savings and efficiencies. The "Regulations" section includes an "Unconstitutionality Index," described by DOGE as a metric evaluating the constitutionality of government regulations.
Although DOGE.gov presents itself as an official government website, its content and structure suggest otherwise. The developer's use of the same Cloudflare account ID when creating Musk's America PAC website raises further questions about the site's true purpose and affiliation.
Moreover, DOGE.gov links to a Forbes article authored by Clyde Wayne Crews, a member of the Heartland Institute, a conservative think tank. This association adds another layer of complexity to the site's identity and objectives.
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