 "Elon Musk has been amplifying DataRepublican's tweets. Reuters")
A data scientist in the United States has caught the attention of Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (Doge). Known as the “DataRepublican” on X, the anonymous account’s alleged findings of government waste have often been shared by the billionaire.
The user behind the DataRepublican account, which boasts over five lakh followers on X, has finally revealed her identity. She says she is using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to expose the alleged corruption and waste within the US government.
But who is she? Let’s take a closer look.
Who is DataRepublican?
The woman behind DataRepublican says her name is Jennica Pounds. She revealed her identity on Tuesday (February 25) evening in a post on X.
“I have been doxxed. Rather than let others control the narrative, I am addressing this directly,” she said on the Musk-owned platform.
As per a RollingStone report, Pounds is a deaf, software engineer from Utah. She was working as a senior software engineer at an AI lending company called Upstart until this week.
“I recently resigned from my job to pursue Doge-adjacent efforts full-time,” Pounds wrote on X.
She served as the Senior Distinguished Machine Learning Engineer since 2023 at Upstart. Pounds previously had stints with Snap Inc, eBay and Amazon.
Pounds owns a distillery in Salt Lake City with her husband. In 2020, she registered a company called Redata, LLC in Utah. The couple also bought a McMansion, equipped with an indoor pool and movie theatre, in 2021, reported RollingStone.
DataRepublican’s link to Musk, Doge
Elon Musk has amplified several of DataRepublican’s tweets. As per RollingStone, he quoted her posts on X at least 24 times over the last three weeks. He has also encouraged his 219 million (21.9 crore) followers to follow her account.
On January 21, DataRepublican claimed she found “a quick billion” of federal spending for Doge to reduce. To this, Musk replied: “noted”.
She suggested cutting funds to groups such as Global Refuge, a faith-based organisation providing safety and support services to immigrants, migrant refugees and asylum-seekers globally. Two weeks later, Musk announced that Doge was “rapidly shutting down” allegedly “illegal payments” to Global Refuge.
A website called DataRepublican.com was recently launched with options for users to search charities and nonprofit officers.
DataRepublican said on Friday that she is introducing an ActBlue donor search category. This tweet was quoted by Musk , who said it was “interesting.”
In a recent interview with NewsNation, Pounds when asked about how Musk discovered her anonymous account said: “Honestly, I don’t know, you’d have to ask him. But I’m grateful.”
“Since then, it’s just been a whirlwind.”
She clarified that she has not had direct communication with the Tesla CEO. However, Pounds said she has a “working relationship” with Doge.
“I want to be clear. I don’t communicate directly with Elon. He found me and he supports my work,” she said. “But I have communicated with some people who are involved with Doge. And I don’t want to say much more than that, but I have a working relationship.”
In a post this week, DataRepublican said that “a generous benefactor has reached out and offered to cover AI expenses,” adding that she is undergoing a “background check” as she seeks to join Doge .
Musk’s Doge is working to reduce the federal government workforce and federal spending.
What DataRepublican has claimed
According to DataRepublican, her current work involves “analysing connections and relationships between people in the government.”
“[I]f you research people long enough, you start to notice that they’re all working together, they’re all married, that they’re all in-laws,” she told NewsNation.
“They know each other. They all sit on the same board for many years, and that’s my project, to map those relationships.”
DataRepublican claims she has discovered alleged corruption in the US government.
When asked how much federal money she believes is being wasted or stolen after going through public databases, Pounds replied, “Whew. If I had to guess, I would say it is over $100 billion. But what is more important is what they are doing with that money,” she said.
She said her findings show that the alleged corruption she discovered is not limited to just one political party. “I cannot tell you enough how much both [Republicans and Democrats] are involved,” the data scientist said. “It is everywhere.”
With inputs from agencies