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Thousands of federal government websites containing crucial public health information vanished over the weekend as the Trump administration enforced new content guidelines targeting what it calls “gender ideology” and diversity initiatives.
Government agencies raced to delete web content after a memo said to “take down all outward facing media” that promotes “gender ideology” by Friday, January 31. This order wiped out many health websites, taking down information about birth control, HIV prevention, and pregnancy vaccines.
More than 8,000 government web pages were taken offline by Sunday, including vital public health resources from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), scientific research data, and essential medical guidance.
“Decades worth of taxpayer-funded reports and analysis gone in an instant,” an anonymous employee from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) told WIRED. “We have no idea what is happening behind the scenes or what will be back, when, and in what form.”
The CDC alone lost more than 3,000 pages, including research articles about chronic disease prevention and STD treatment protocols. The Center’s HIV resource landing page and information about creating safe school environments also disappeared.
Disease experts warn these removals create dangerous gaps in scientific information. The Infectious Diseases Society of America stated that access to HIV information is “critical to efforts to end the HIV epidemic.”
Aside from health data, the purge affected a broad range of government services. The Census Bureau lost over 3,000 pages of research methodology and data documentation. More than 200 pages vanished from Head Start, a program serving low-income children, including resources about preventing postpartum depression.
“We haven’t been allowed to be in contact with our partners,” another USAID employee told WIRED under anonymity. “We’ve been kept in the dark, and this is just an extension of that.”
Some websites explicitly acknowledged the changes. ProsperAfrica.gov posted a notice stating: “In order to be consistent with the President’s Executive Orders, this website is currently undergoing maintenance as we expeditiously and thoroughly review all of the content.”
On Sunday night, Trump addressed the changes directly, telling reporters USAID had been “run by a bunch of radical lunatics, and we’re getting them out . . . and then we’ll make a decision.”
Democratic Senator Chris Coons responded on X: “President Trump spent two weeks harassing and laying off USAID employees, and now his team is trying to gut the agency altogether.”
Trump’s foreign aid freeze has already halted life-saving programs worldwide. The suspension has disrupted medical services, drug prevention efforts, and clean water projects across multiple countries.
These removed pages represent less than one percent of all government web content. However, they include some of the most frequently accessed public health and scientific resources. The Times reports many pages may return online after revision, though the timeline and extent of potential restoration remain unclear.
