Thousands of Data.gov datasets have vanished since Trump's inauguration. What's happening?
The answer is more complex than you might imagine.
Since President Trump took office, around three thousand datasets have disappeared from Data.gov, the U.S. government's open data repository. Recent investigations have revealed that, between January 21 and January 30, the total number of datasets on this platform dropped from 307,854 to 305,564. Archives from the Data.gov homepage show the dataset count just before and nine days after the start of the Trump administration.
Digital archiving experts are analyzing which data were removed and the reasons behind these removals, and it has been found that the situation is more complex than it appears. Some removals may be attributable to a malicious "cleaning" of information, while others could simply be unintended side effects of an administration change.
One possible explanation for the disappearance of these datasets is "link rot," a phenomenon that occurs when links stop working due to changes in URLs or if the data have been migrated to other sites. There is no regulated system for data archiving by federal agencies, which can result in some agencies archiving their datasets on their own platforms instead of on Data.gov.
Historically, changes in presidential administration have led to the removal of datasets, either intentionally or accidentally. For example, during the Biden administration, approximately one thousand datasets were reported to have been removed.
Identifying whether the removals were intentional or collateral effects of an administrative change involves detailed analysis, as each file must be thoroughly investigated. However, what has been removed may provide clues about the government's priorities. During Trump's presidency, information related to climate change was significantly suppressed or altered. In his current presidency, Trump issued an executive order to eliminate information on gender identity and DEI initiatives, as part of his commitment to eradicate "wokeness."
The deleted data primarily comes from scientific agencies related to the environment, including the Department of Energy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
