More than 1,000 federal government web pages have been deleted during President Donald Trump’s second term, according to a May 9 survey conducted by Nikkei Asia. The removals have taken place in roughly 90 US government agencies, featuring content related to climate change, diversity and inclusion, and gender rights.
Just over 100 days into Trump’s return to office the current administration has changed hundreds of policies implemented by former President Biden. Nikkei’s investigated data are from the End of Term Web Archive (EOT), an initiative by American academic institutions to preserve government websites.
The analysis compared URLs archived around Trump’s January inauguration with their availability in March. More than 10,000 URLs were archived by EOT at the start of Trump’s second term. By March, over 1,000, roughly 9.2%, had become inaccessible, largely beyond the 3% of archived URLs removed during Biden’s tenure.
EOT researchers shocked over extent of deletions
According to the survey, content removed disproportionately mentioned issues Trump opposed during his campaign, including Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs, protections for sexual minorities, climate change initiatives, and references to the January 6 Capitol attack.
“There is no comparison to other administrations to what the Trump administration is doing currently,” said James Jacobs, a member of the EOT project. “In the history of our country, there has been no administration that has sought to delete already-published information and data.”
In the US Department of Defense, the Air Force website removed imagery featuring Hispanic and Indigenous personnel. One deleted item was a photo taken during Black History Month, showing an Air Force officer giving a speech with the words “BLACK HISTORY” displayed in the background.
“Such removals could certainly be characterized as violating our Civil Rights Act. It’s very disturbing because it’s an attempt to manipulate public opinion,” explained Georgetown University law professor David Super.
In March, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell spoke on the removals, saying: “Over the past few weeks, we’ve taken action to identify and archive DEI content from our websites and social media platforms. When content is either mistakenly removed or maliciously removed, we continue to work quickly to restore it.”
On the day of his second inauguration, Trump pardoned or commuted the sentences of 1,500 individuals involved in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. “These are people that actually love our country, so we thought a pardon would be appropriate,” Trump said.
Just eight days later, the Department of Justice’s online portal listing individuals wanted or indicted in connection with the Capitol attack was taken offline.
Attempting to access the once-public database now yields a “Page not found” message. The scrapped pages included names, photos, and case updates.
Gender and climate references quietly altered
On the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) site, the term “LGBTQI+” was shortened to “LGB,” and the phrase “Health Equity” was removed. By the end of March, the page in question had vanished entirely.
These alterations appear tied to an executive order Trump signed on inauguration day, which states: “It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female.”
Similar language adjustments were identified on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) site, where “Climate Resilience” was replaced with the term “Future Conditions.” Environmental monitoring groups say Trump does not believe in climate science.
At the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), 20 pages were removed, including those outlining the agency’s zero-tolerance harassment policy.
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) saw 18 pages deleted, including an opioid care toolkit for women and a FAQ page on the Mpox vaccine.
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