A TikToker shows the United States government’s Social Security Administration website landing page’s hours of operation in a now-viral TikTok, sparking debate about why the site closes for several hours a day.
In the video posted by TikToker @ohbermuda on Oct. 8, he asks viewers if they know that the “social security website closes and has hours of operation,” pointing to an error message he received when accessing the site. The caption reads, “LIKE WHY IS IT CLOSED IT IS A WEB SITE ??????? !!!!!!!!!!!”
According to the landing page, the Social Security website is only operational on business days from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m. and on weekends from 8 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.
@ohbermuda LIKE WHY IS IT CLOSED IT IS A WEB SITE ??????? !!!!!!!!!!!
♬ original sound – Oh, Bermuda!
The video has reached over 153,000 views as of Oct. 26, with commenters saying that the closing hours seem “ridiculous.”
“No like fr when I get all panicky bc I can’t find my ss card at 2am and go to Order a replacement, I can’t bc it’s closed,” one user said.
“Yeah it’s ridiculous. back when I worked seasonally and would get unemployment, absolute pain,” another wrote.
“Why does a website get more time off than me,” a third added.
Others explained that the website’s closing hours are “common” for government websites.
“It’s a data compliance protocol. Gives the IRS time frame to share you data with other government agencies,” a commenter shared.
“A lot of these websites have backend that runs in batches. They have to stop all activity to process everything for the day,” another said.
The Daily Dot reached out to the Social Security Administration via email and to @ohbermuda via Instagram direct message.
