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30-Second Take
- Over 2,000 datasets have vanished from Data.gov since Donald Trump’s inauguration.
- Archivists are racing to identify and save these datasets before they are lost forever.
- The deletions include critical climate data and diversity, equity, and inclusion information.
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Quick Brief
2-Minute Digest
Essential Context
Data.gov, the largest repository of U.S. government open data, has seen a significant reduction in datasets. As of January 21, there were 307,854 datasets available, but by the end of the week, this number had dropped to 305,564.
Core Players
- Jack Cushman – Harvard University researcher archiving Data.gov datasets.
- Mark Phillips – University of Northern Texas researcher working on the End of Term Web Archive.
- Internet Archive – Key partner in archiving government websites.
- Common Crawl – Collaborator in large-scale web crawls.
Key Numbers
- 2,000+ – Datasets deleted from Data.gov since Trump’s inauguration.
- 307,854 – Total datasets on Data.gov as of January 21.
- 305,564 – Total datasets on Data.gov after deletions.
- 100s of terabytes – Web content collected by archiving efforts.
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The Catalyst
The deletion of datasets from Data.gov began immediately after Donald Trump’s inauguration, highlighting a broader effort to remove government data and research, particularly on climate change and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
“The government information crisis is bigger than you think,” notes Jacobs from Free Government Information, emphasizing the critical nature of this issue.
Inside Forces
Data.gov acts as an aggregator, linking to datasets hosted on various websites, including federal agencies, state governments, and university sites. This complexity makes archiving challenging because the actual data may not be hosted on Data.gov itself.
Archivists face the daunting task of identifying what data is missing, where it has been moved, and whether it has been preserved elsewhere.
Power Dynamics
The Trump administration’s actions have significantly impacted the availability of government data. Executive orders have mandated the deletion of certain types of data, exacerbating the issue.
Mark Phillips of the University of Northern Texas notes, “When we rely on one place for collecting, hosting, and making available these datasets, we will always have an issue with data disappearing.”
Outside Impact
The loss of these datasets has broader implications for research, policy-making, and public access to information. Historically, the federal government distributed information to libraries across the country to ensure preservation and accessibility.
In the digital era, this safeguard is no longer in place, making digital publications more fragile and prone to loss.
Future Forces
Efforts are ongoing to archive and preserve government data through projects like the End of Term Web Archive. Since January 2024, large-scale crawls have been conducted to collect hundreds of terabytes of web content.
Looking forward, the challenge will be to develop more robust systems for preserving digital government data, possibly involving greater collaboration with libraries and other preservation institutions.
Data Points
- January 2024: Archiving efforts began to collect government website data.
- January 21, 2025: 307,854 datasets available on Data.gov.
- End of January 2025: 305,564 datasets remaining on Data.gov.
- Trump Administration: Ordered deletions of climate data and diversity, equity, and inclusion information.
- Internet Archive: Partner in archiving government websites.
The ongoing struggle to preserve government datasets underscores the fragility of digital information and the need for robust archiving practices. As digital governance evolves, ensuring the availability and integrity of this data will be crucial for informed decision-making and public transparency.
