The US Social Security Administration has been forced to issue a formal statement following sensational allegations by Elon Musk, who asserted that "millions of dead people" are still claiming social security benefits. This extraordinary claim - amplified by the influence of Tesla supremo Musk and endorsed by past President Donald Trump - has whipped up a storm on social media, spreading an alarmingly false narrative.

Prompted by these unsubstantiated claims, the federal agency revealed that their records, receiving over three million death notifications each year, maintain remarkable accuracy, with incorrect reporting figures standing at less than a third of a percent as opposed to the billionaire's assertions.

Speculation regarding the integrity of the Social Security Administration's death records surged following a controversial tweet from Elon on X, the social media platform which he revamped from its original incarnation, Twitter, this past February.

Elon's incendiary post declared: "Having tens of millions of people marked in Social Security as 'ALIVE' when they are definitely dead is a HUGE problem," fuelling conspiracy theories about systemic mismanagement at the government body.

In the press release countering these allegations, the SSA stated: "Of these millions of death reports received each year, less than one-third of 1 percent are erroneously reported deaths that need to be corrected."

Contrary to the tech mogul's dramatic statements, it appears that the reality at the Social Security Administration is significantly less nefarious than Musk suggests, reports The Express US.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has highlighted that many mistakes made by the agency are not from marking deceased individuals as living, but rather from incorrectly listing living beneficiaries as dead.

"Instances when a person is erroneously reported as deceased to Social Security can be devastating to the individual, spouse and dependent children," the SSA commented.

"Benefits are stopped in the short term which can cause financial hardship until fixed and benefits restored, and the process to prove an erroneous death will always seem too long and challenging," they continued.

In a strange tirade earlier this year, while standing next to President Trump in the Oval Office, the outspoken South African entrepreneur exclaimed: "We got people in there who are 150 years old," referring to incorrect data from the SSA marking dead recipients as alive.

"Anyone who is 150 years old and still receiving Social Security should be in the Guinness Book of World Records, or either dead, in my opinion," he declared.

"That's a case I think they are probably dead," Musk quipped, earning a chuckle from Trump.

"Or very famous. One of the two."

Statistical data from the Social Security Administration shows that among the 67 million Americans who receive benefits, only a minuscule fraction of 0.1% are over the age of 100.

Moreover, the agency has employed an automated system since 2015 to cease the benefits of individuals surpassing the age of 115.