Sarah K. Burris
January 31, 2025
Most federal government websites will go dark at 5 p.m. EST on Friday, Jennifer Jacobs of CBS News reported. The information was confirmed to her about 10 minutes before the sites went offline.
Ryan Broderick, a former BuzzFeed tech reporter who now runs The Garbage Day newsletter, posted on Bluesky that a source sent him a copy of the anti-gender ideology memo that was being shared around federal government agencies on Friday.
"This was sent to the Department of Health and Human Services. They have a 5 PM deadline to take down 'all outward facing media... that inculcate or promote gender ideology,'" he said.
Jacobs said a reporter asked if the websites were going dark to remove any DEI-related content.
"If they want to scrub the websites, that's OK with me," Trump told reporters.
Politico reported from an internal email that Department of Agriculture staff was ordered to delete pages on climate change.
Reuters said that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as other federal health agencies, were ordered to remove webpages, forms, and programs that had anything to do with what Republicans call "gender ideology extremism."
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that data about HIV/AIDS was being removed from U.S. health sites as well.
As of publication, some websites were still live, but the former 2016 Clinton Campaign press secretary noticed that the Census Bureau was offline.
"It is not normal for a democracy to go dark," the anti-Trump organization The Lincoln Project wrote in response.
"HOW ARE PEOPLE SUPPOSED TO GET RESOURCES? Americans use these websites every day to access basic government services!" exclaimed Michigan Rep. Haley Stevens (D).
Open government advocate Alexander B. Howerd noted: "There are several federal websites that are mandated by Congress, like http://FOIA.gov & @usdatagov & @usaspending, but most are not, along with the data on them. Not seeing widespread takedowns yet, but would welcome any and all tips."
Lori Lodes, the executive director of Climate Power, noted on X that when she worked for Barack Obama's administration, she oversaw the websites for HealthCare.gov and Medicare.gov.
"Government websites do more than provide critical information to help people — they connect people to life-saving services. Families and kids will pay a steep price for Trump dismantling the government," she said.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Sophia A. Nelson reminded Americans, "This is not normal!"
Investigative reporter Steven Monacelli from the Texas Tribune posted on X, "It appears that the destruction of information, and the consequent confusion that destruction creates, is a feature of this administration's strategy."
Parkland school shooting victim father Fred Guttenberg was not as kind. "F--K THIS MAFIA DON IN THE WHITE HOUSE. As for his elected enablers, the next two years are about you. Election season has begun."
One individual, Alexander McCoy, posted on X, "Please I just need to make my VA appointments."
The VA was still live at publication.
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