Recently, Elon Musk conducted a survey on X, the platform he acquired for $44 billion, to gauge public opinion on whether federal employees should submit a weekly list of five accomplishments to his team via email. With over 70% of respondents voting in favor, Musk proceeded to implement the policy. Consequently, federal employees received an email from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) requesting their weekly accomplishments by Monday at 11:59 p.m. ET.
Musk stated on X, “In accordance with President Donald Trump’s instructions, all federal employees will soon receive an email requesting a report of their accomplishments from the previous week. Failure to respond will be considered a resignation.” This move has sparked a significant reaction, with many federal employees facing the threat of job loss if they do not comply.
Given the massive number of federal employees, it was inevitable that the email address and contents would be leaked. As a result, people on social media platforms like Reddit, TikTok, Threads, and Bluesky are encouraging each other to flood the public email address with nonsensical responses. This tactic of online resistance is not new and has been employed in response to similar controversies in the past.
A common example of this tactic is the “Bee Movie” script, which has been used to overwhelm online forms and email addresses. In one instance, an anti-trans “snitch form” in Missouri was taken offline after being inundated with the script. Similar responses were seen in Texas and Utah, where people flooded state inboxes and complaint forms with nonsensical submissions.
This form of online vigilantism often originates within specific communities, such as the K-pop fandom. In 2020, fans of Korean superstars like BTS spammed a Dallas police department’s app with fancam videos after the police requested footage of illegal activity during protests. Trump’s detractors have also employed this tactic since the beginning of his term, when his administration set up email accounts to report noncompliance with executive orders.
The OPM, a longstanding government agency, has introduced new dedicated email addresses, which has sparked controversy. Federal employees first received an email from the OPM’s HR email address in January, testing its ability to contact all government workers in one email blast. This move led to a class-action lawsuit from two whistleblowers, who claim that creating this new email server without following established security measures violates federal privacy law.
The security concerns surrounding this new email system are valid, given the OPM’s history of being hacked in 2015. The breach compromised sensitive data from security clearance background checks for 21.5 million people, including Social Security numbers and biometric data. Musk’s DOGE team has been granted unprecedented access to these government systems with little resistance, raising further concerns.
The effectiveness of the mass spam campaign in deterring DOGE remains uncertain. While it’s possible that Musk’s team could filter their inboxes for government-only email addresses, the sheer volume of mail could also cause the inbox to collapse. The storage capacity of the server is finite, and an overwhelming amount of data could potentially cripple the system.
Despite the potential futility of these efforts, those resisting Musk’s policies remain undeterred. The ease of copying and pasting the “Bee Movie” script into an email has made it a popular choice for those looking to participate in the spam campaign. As the situation continues to unfold, it will be interesting to see the impact of this online resistance on DOGE and the federal government’s policies.
