The White House on Wednesday announced that they are cancelling the Politico subscriptions which were purchased by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) using the millions of dollars of the taxpayers.
Soon after the announcement, the leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cost-cutting initiative in the United States and Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday warned that there would be a sudden decrease in the revenue of various media outlets.
The government made the announcement after it was found by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency that Politico was receiving $8.2 million in “government subsidies."
US Govt Cracks Down On Media Subscriptions
On Wednesday, the White House said that federal agencies are working towards terminating the government’s expensive contracts with Politico after DOGE marked them as a “wasteful" use of taxpayer money.
As per the data on usaspending.gov, nearly $8.4 million in taxpayer funds was paid to Politico in a span of 12 months.
Speaking at a press briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “I can confirm that the more than eight million taxpayer dollars that have gone to essentially subsidizing subscriptions to Politico on the American taxpayer’s dime will no longer be happening."
“The DOGE team is working on cancelling those payments now. Again, this is a whole-of-government effort to ensure that we are going line by line when it comes to the federal government’s books, and this president and his team are making decisions across the board," she added.
Leavitt said that the spending decisions are being made by the administration on the basis of two criteria: “Do these receipts serve the interests of the American people? Is this a good use of the American taxpayers’ money?"
Musk Reacts To Cancellation Of Politico’s Subscriptions, Warns Other Media Outlets
On Wednesday morning, Musk criticised the subscriptions and wrote on X, “Not an efficient use of taxpayer funds. This wasteful expenditure will be deleted."
He further hinted that the government may consider chopping the subscriptions of other news outlets as well.
“Many media outlets are going to experience a mysterious drop in revenue," Musk said.
