Social Security’s COBOL Software Comes Under Scrutiny

Discussions of Social Security Administration (SSA) fraud from Elon Musk have prompted criticism over the federal government’s use of COBOL, a software system that critics consider outdated.

Musk alleged that the SSA’s outdated systems have led to significant errors, including records of people over age 150 receiving government benefits.

Newsweek contacted Musk through the X press office via email for more information.

Why It Matters

The Social Security system is the latest area of the federal government that the Department of Government Efficiency is focused on. Musk’s organization has already made sweeping changes to the landscape of Washington, such as the dismantling of USAID.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on the dangers of Social Security fraud, Musk said: “We’re examining Social Security, and we’ve got people there who are 150 years old. Do you know anyone who’s 150? I don’t.

“They should be in the Guinness Book of World Records. They’re missing out. They’re probably dead, that would be my guess. Or they should be very famous, one of the two.”

What To Know

Musk claimed that the SSA’s current system created flaws in Social Security that sent money to people who did not need it.

The SSA currently uses COBOL, which is 60-year-old programming language still widely employed in government databases.

According to reports from Wired, one reason for the supposed 150-year-old people in the Social Security system is COBOL’s lack of a date type. Because some implementations of SSA databases default missing or incomplete birthdates as a reference point, often May 20, 1875, this means that records without proper birthdates could incorrectly display ages far beyond human lifespans.

Additionally, the SSA has a policy of halting benefit payments to people at age 115. Since September 2015, the agency has automatically discontinued payments for any recipient recorded as older than this threshold.

What Is COBOL?

COBOL, developed in the 1950s through a public-private partnership, was designed as an English-like programming language for business applications.

While most private-sector businesses have moved away from COBOL because of its maintenance costs and lack of compatibility with modern systems, it remains widely used in government and regulated industries.

Government agencies rely on COBOL-based mainframes for critical financial transactions, including tax payments, Social Security and Medicare. The systems, when properly maintained, are highly reliable, with built-in redundancy and fault tolerance. COBOL continues to be essential in sectors like finance, telecommunications and health care.

What People Are Saying

Technology writer Michael Hiles on X, formerly Twitter: “Dear lord, now everyone is a COBOL programming expert on social media. I am actually a COBOL programmer (DiBOL was my first language on a PDP 11/70 – it was DEC’s iteration of COBOL).

“The 1875 epoch argument is bulls***. COBOL doesn’t even have a date type. It is completely system specific to however the developer initially created it – hence the mad scramble for Y2K rewrites.”

What Happens Next

Musk is continuing his investigation into government spending in his capacity as head of the Department of Government Efficiency.

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