DOGE told IRS to audit scores of members of Congress? No, that's satire | Fact check

The claim: DOGE referred 156 Democrats in Congress to IRS for ‘immediate audit’

A Feb. 19 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows a screenshot of an X post that purports to contain an update from the Department of Government Efficiency.

“DOGE forwarded the names of 163 members of Congress to the IRS for ‘Immediate Audit,’” text in the image reads. “156 of them are Democrats.”

The X post in the screenshot was reposted more than 15,000 times in two days. The claim also circulated widely on Instagram and elsewhere on Facebook.

More from the Fact-Check Team: How we pick and research claims | Email newsletter | Facebook page

Our rating: False

This didn’t happen. The claim originated on a satirical website.

Claim traces to satirical Facebook account

In his unofficial role running the newly created DOGE, Musk – the world’s wealthiest person – has vowed to slash spending among various federal agencies. As part of that cash-savings push, his lieutenants have swept through numerous government agencies and President Donald Trump’s administration has fired thousands of federal employees.

Fact check: No, Sen. Warren didn’t say citizens shouldn’t know about government spending

The agency did not, however, refer scores of members of Congress to the IRS to be audited. There is no record of that purported announcement on DOGE’s official website or its X account, and there are no credible reports about it from legitimate media outlets.

The claim originated in a Feb. 16 Facebook post by America’s Last Line of Defense, which is part of a network of satirical accounts. Its intro section states that “nothing on this page is real,” and site operator Christopher Blair has previously told Paste BN that any content published by his accounts is fabricated.

The image in the satirical post contains a watermark identifying it as satire. That disclaimer, however, was cropped out of the image in the version shared Feb. 19 to X and to Facebook.

The Facebook and X posts are examples of what could be called "stolen satire," in which posts created as satire and originally presented that way are reposted in a way that makes them appear to be legitimate news. As a result, readers of the second-generation post are misled, as was the case here.

Paste BN previously debunked false claims that DOGE found the Pentagon spent $600 million on sushi and that Musk ordered all federal employees to pass drug tests within 30 days or be fired.

Paste BN reached out to several social media users who shared the claim but did not immediately receive any responses.

Lead Stories also debunked the claim.

Our fact-check sources

• America’s Last Line of Defense, Feb. 16, Facebook post
• America’s Last Line of Defense, accessed Feb. 13, Facebook profile
• Christopher Blair, Aug. 3, 2023, Email exchange with Paste BN
• Department of Government Efficiency, accessed Feb. 21, X account
• Department of Government Efficiency, accessed Feb. 21, Home page

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or e-newspaper here.

Paste BN is a verified signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network, which requires a demonstrated commitment to nonpartisanship, fairness and transparency. Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Meta.