WHAT WAS CLAIMED
The US DOGE halted a $2.6 million annual payment to Barack Obama for royalties from Obamacare.
OUR VERDICT
False. The claim originated from a satire page.
AAP FACTCHECK - Elon Musk's US Department of Government Efficiency has not halted a $2.6 million annual payment to former president Barack Obama, despite claims online.
The claim originated in articles published by self-described "satire" websites.
President Donald Trump has taken an axe to the federal government, working with Mr Musk's DOGE to jettison more than 100,000 federal workers across dozens of agencies.
An Instagram post has shared the claim about DOGE blocking a payment to Mr Obama as if it were authentic without any satire reference.
"DOGE stopped an annual payment to Barack Obama for $2.6 million for "royalties associated with Obamacare," the Instagram caption said.
"He's been collecting it since 2010, for a total of $39 million in taxpayer dollars.
"Your thoughts on this MF'r???"
A Facebook post sharing a link to the Instagram post queried how a former president could receive royalties from a government program if he were an elected public servant.
"Maybe criminal charges? So much for Obamacare being for the people. It looks like it was more for Obama to care for himself. DOGE is finding a lot of money being wasted and dare I say corruption for illegal payments. Let's see how they like the judiciary branch going after them," the caption said.
"Obamacare" is the unofficial name for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a landmark healthcare law signed by Mr Obama in 2010 to expand access to health insurance.
However, the claim originates from a well-known satirical Facebook page, America's Last Line of Defense (ALLOD), and its subsidiary website, The Dunning-Kruger Times.
The original ALLOD Facebook post includes a small satire disclaimer with a link to an article on The Dunning-Kruger Times site.
The About Us page of Dunning Kruger-Times reads: "Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real."
In 2017, fact-checking website Snopes debunked a similar claim about Mr Obama and Obamacare payments.
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