Tech billionaire Elon Musk has sparked debate after calling for the elimination of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), an independent federal watchdog that protects Americans from financial exploitation.

Billionaire Elon Musk, tasked with slashing government costs by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, on Wednesday called for the elimination of a federal regulatory agency charged with protecting consumers in the financial sector.

Delete CFPB,” Elon Musk, the billionaire tech executive running the “Department of Government Efficiency,” said in an early-morning post on X.

The agency aims to protect consumers from unfair, deceptive or abusive financial practices by taking action against companies that break the law. In 2022, the CFPB ordered Wells Fargo to pay $3.7 billion for “widespread mismanagement” that led to misapplied loan payments, wrongfully foreclosed homes and more.

Earth’s richest person Elon Musk, President-Elect Donald Trump’s cost-cutting czar, identified a fresh federal government enemy: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a relatively new agency created following the Great Recession.

Elon Musk, who will have a role in the Trump administration overseeing government "efficiency," called for the CFPB to be "deleted."

Republicans and the banking industry have accused the CFPB of regulatory overreach because it doesn't follow the usual congressional budget process.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has long been a target for conservative ire, but dismantling it would require Congress' cooperation.