Since President Trump took office, almost 3,000 datasets have disappeared from Data.gov, the U.S. government’s platform for open data. A report by [404 Media](https://www.404media.co/archivists-work-to-identify-and-save-the-thousands-of-datasets-disappearing-from-data-gov/) indicates that the number of datasets on the site fell from 307,854 on January 20, 2017 — the day prior to Trump’s inauguration — to 305,564 by January 30, 2017. This alteration was captured through screenshots of Data.gov’s homepage saved on the Wayback Machine.
Digital archivists are currently engaged in efforts to ascertain what was taken down and the reasons behind it. Nevertheless, the motives for these removals are more complex than mere data suppression. While some deletions might be deliberate, others could simply be the normal outcomes of a change in administration. “Some of the removals are probably malicious information scrubbing, while others are routine results of the transition,” the investigation remarked.
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The loss of datasets might also be explained by “link rot,” a phenomenon where URLs become unreachable due to changes in web addresses or data being relocated. Federal agencies do not have a unified approach for archiving their data on Data.gov, and some might have transferred datasets to their own sites instead.
Changes in presidential administrations have historically resulted in data being purged, either intentionally or inadvertently. For example, when President Biden assumed office, around 1,000 datasets were discarded, according to Wayback Machine records referenced by 404 Media. Determining if these deletions are purposeful or incidental necessitates meticulous manual investigation of archived materials.
However, the characteristics of the datasets that were removed can provide insight into governmental priorities. During Trump’s initial term, his administration modified or eliminated significant amounts of information related to climate change. In his current campaign, Trump has instructed federal agencies to erase data concerning gender identity and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, which aligns with his broader agenda against “wokeness.”
The report points out that the datasets most commonly removed originate from environmental science agencies, such as the Department of Energy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This trend raises alarm about the potential suppression of vital environmental and scientific information.