Researchers logging onto the website Data.gov in January discovered a digital void where roughly 2,000 data sets were once cataloged. No warning, no explanation — just the quiet deletion of knowledge. Not long after that, historical pages focused on Black soldiers vanished, as did a website about Jackie Robinson and, bizarrely, one about a plane with “gay” in its name.
President Trump’s administration has targeted information curated by government agencies, erasing vast swaths of knowledge. While database updates and website changes are routine, this is probably the first time Americans are witnessing deletion weaponized on a large scale as a political tool. These deletions undermine basic good government — and the historical record. Democratic governments need far more robust legal frameworks and safeguards for data that is essential to citizens’ well-being. Scientific practices may change, policies may shift, and history may be debated, but the record of government should endure, regardless of who holds power.
The administration is seemingly pursuing deletion as a means of control. “It’s kind of like leaving a weed,” Elon Musk said of destroying agencies — and their attendant records. “If you don’t remove the roots of the weed, then it is easy for the weed to grow back.” Mr. Trump has sacked the national archivist and put Secretary of State Marco Rubio in charge. Without separation of powers, the archives are at risk.
The use of apps like Signal, an encrypted messaging service with auto-delete features, showcases how intentional the deletion is. As a 2022 report from a British think tank put it, Signal and similar apps essentially create black holes in democratic accountability, systematically undermining proper record keeping to circumvent public oversight. As if on cue, Trump administration officials used Signal to plan the bombardment of a foreign country. As the French philosopher Jacques Derrida wrote, “There is no political power without control of the archive.”
The consequences of these digital deletions extend beyond inconvenience; many directly threaten health, and if removals continue, they could threaten lives. One lawsuit claims a Chicago doctor serving low-income families could not get access to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention resources to address a chlamydia outbreak at a high school. Another physician, a researcher at the Yale School of Medicine, lost the ability to consult clinical treatment guidelines. The loss of climate models and historical data could lead to people being more vulnerable to extreme weather events.
A vast repository of critical public health information — developed to provide evidence-based guidance to health care providers, medical practitioners, researchers and the general public — is being systematically dismantled. This loss will have profound consequences: preventable deaths, unnecessary illness and deteriorating public health. The elimination of guidelines for marginalized groups can cause certain communities to effectively disappear from official health records, reinforcing discrimination and neglect. This informational void threatens to deepen health disparities and further fragment an already unequal health care system.