What Is Happening To Federal Data Disappearing Federal Data

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Oct 27, 2025, 3:29 AM

what is happening to federal data disappearing federal data

Starting January 20, 2025, federal data, webpages, and other government information previously accessible to researchers and the public began disappearing in compliance with executive orders. This situation continues to evolve. The Journalist’s Resource provides an overview of the current situation, published by the Shorenstein Center at the Harvard Kennedy School. Preserving Data Access- In his blog post Preserving Data Access (Feb. 5, 2025), Joel Herndon highlights concerns about federal dataset removals and their impact on research at Duke University. He emphasizes the library’s efforts to collaborate with data curation experts to preserve access and encourages researchers to seek support for data sourcing.

Thousands of U.S. Government Web Pages Have Been Taken Down- Since late January 2025, U.S. federal agencies have removed or altered over 8,000 web pages, including thousands from the CDC covering topics like chronic illnesses, reproductive care, and vaccine guidelines. Changes also included revisions to National Park Service content and the removal of references to diversity and gender identity. The Environmental Data & Governance Initiative advocates for access to environmental data. Beginning in January 2025, many federal datasets, websites, and other previously accessible resources, across agencies, are being taken offline to comply with executive orders.

In some cases, press releases or data documentation have been removed; in others, entire datasets have been taken down. Evidence is growing that even datasets that remain accessible on an agency’s website may have scrubbed, corrupted, or otherwise altered information. Learn more about missing, altered or restored federal data: New York Times (02/11/25): Judge Orders C.D.C. to Temporarily Restore Deleted HHS, CDC & FDA Web Pages. The temporary restraining order was granted in response to a lawsuit filed against the federal government by Doctors for America (DFA), a progressive advocacy group representing physicians, and the nonprofit Public Citizen, a consumer...

Previously restored pages include the Atlas Tool, used by policymakers to track rates of infectious diseases such as HIV and STIs; pages that explained the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, which monitors adolescent health;... Silencing Science Tracker: joint initiative of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund, tracking government attempts to restrict or prohibit scientific research since the November 2016 election Beginning in January 2025, many federal datasets, websites, and other previously accessible resources are being taken offline to comply with executive orders, most notably Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC), Environmental Protection Agency... Much of the data targeted is ostensibly related to health disparities among different demographics, especially race/ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. Because these variables are important factors in health research, however, many large and broad-scope data sets are affected. Evidence is growing that even datasets that remain accessible on an agency’s website may have scrubbed, corrupted, or otherwise altered information.

Learn more about missing or altered federal data: The Journalists Resource: overview of the current situation from the Shorenstein Center at the Kennedy School Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI): an advocacy group for access to environmental data. Data Rescue Efforts: an evolving list of crowd-sourced efforts to preserve and maintain accessibility to data. The website for the Data Rescue Project, which evolved from this data rescue initiative is now available at: https://www.datarescueproject.org/about-data-rescue-project/ and the Data Rescue Tracker is available here: https://www.datarescueproject.org/data-rescue-tracker/ Starting on January 20, 2025, many federal websites and datasets have been taken offline to comply with various executive orders.

Most notably, information and data from the CDC, EPA, and NIH have disappeared. Much of the targeted data is related to health disparities based on race, gender, and sexuality, factors often considered in health research. Federal data on education that touches on disparities in outcomes among different groups is also at risk. Some data that remain accessible online may have been scrubbed, corrupted, or otherwise altered. This guide is designed to help the MHC community: 1) understand the current data landscape; 2) locate US federal government data that may have been removed; 3) gain awareness about data advocacy and rescue... This section provides strategies for retrieving missing or altered federal data and for locating archived versions of government websites.

Begin by searching data.gov to confirm whether the data is truly unavailable. It's possible that the dataset has been relocated. 2. Use the Internet Archive Wayback Machine: People rely on data from federal agencies every day – often without realizing it. Rural residents use groundwater level data from the U.S.

geological survey’s National Water Information System to decide where to dig wells. High school coaches turn to weather apps supported by data from the National Weather Service to decide when to move practice inside to avoid life-threatening heat. Emergency managers use data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey to ensure that residents without vehicles have seats on evacuation buses during local emergencies. On Jan. 31, 2025, websites and datasets from across the federal government began to disappear. As that happened, archivists and researchers from around the world sprang into action, grabbing what they could before it was gone.

Trust in the federal statistical system took another hit when Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer was fired on the heels of a dismal Aug. 1, 2025, employment report. And reduced data collection at the bureau was already causing concern before her dismissal. The bureau has ceased collection of critical inputs to the Consumer Price Index, likely reducing that inflation indicator’s accuracy, especially at the level of specific locations and products. Data are a cornerstone for efforts to improve health and health care, including addressing disparities. Federal data can act as “essential infrastructure,” with policymakers and institutions relying on demographic, geographic, and health outcomes data, among others, to make important decisions around resource allocation.

Data are important for identifying health status and needs, including disparities; directing efforts and resources to address needs and disparities as they are identified; assessing the impacts of policy changes; and establishing accountability. Without adequate data, health needs and disparities may remain unseen and unaddressed. Further, lack of reliable and transparent data can erode public trust in government institutions, negatively impact willingness to participate in future federal data collection efforts, and make policy implementation challenging. The Trump administration has taken actions to eliminate equity-related initiatives and has removed federal data from online sites, deleting sociodemographic variables from datasets, and has delayed the release of some data. This policy watch reviews recent changes in availability and timeliness of federal data based on a review of publicly available federal datasets that are commonly used to measure health and health care as of... The identified changes, which largely include removal of data or variables relating to race or ethnicity or sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI), may not be exhaustive as they focus on a subset of...

Looking ahead, there are likely to be continued declines in the availability and timeliness of federal data. While most changes have affected racial or ethnic or SOGI data to date, other domains could be affected in the future. Decreased availability of federal data may impede efforts to identify and address health needs and disparities, trend changes in health and health care among different groups over time, and impact how resources are allocated,... The Biden administration took several steps to increase the availability of disaggregated federal data to advance health equity. For example, in March 2024, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced revisions to Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity, which apply to federal data collection and... These revisions were the first ones issued since 1997.

The OMB indicated that they were intended to result in more accurate and useful race and ethnicity data across the federal government and to better represent the increasing diversity of the U.S. population. The administration also issued several Executive Orders and Equity Action Plans aimed at “advancing equity and racial justice” which included “building accountability for equity through data collection and reporting” by federal agencies. The Biden administration also prioritized equity and enhanced data collection for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex (LGBTQ) people through its Executive Orders. In contrast, the Trump administration has taken actions to eliminate equity-related initiatives, including eliminating policies, initiatives, and research focused on specific populations, including people of color and transgender or gender non-conforming people. On the first day of his second term, President Trump signed Executive Order 14148 which revoked 78 executive orders and memoranda issued by the Biden administration, many related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)...

Additionally, Executive Order 14168 impacted data collection, data presentation, and distribution related to transgender people as it directs the “removal of all statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications, or other internal and external messages that... To carry out the Executive Orders, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) directed agencies and departments to take down all outward facing media that “inculcate or promote” “gender ideology,” as well as to remove... This guide has been created in response to recent and ongoing removal of federal datasets, websites, and other digital resources. It is a work in progress and will be updated as new archives and repositories are surfaced. Many of the resources linked here have been identified by the Data Rescue Project and LibGuides from other colleges and universities. If you need assistance using any of the resources linked here, or these resources don't meet your needs, please reach out to your Research & Instruction Librarian.

Recent executive orders and federal agency actions have raised questions about the future of publicly available government data, what can and can’t be published, and how the future of government-funded research will play out. So far, this has impacted some federal health data, USDA climate change information, Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) libraries, and more.

What Is Happening To Federal Data Disappearing Federal Data

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