Thousands of web pages across a multitude of government-run websites were no longer accessible to the public or were changed last week.
Many went dark on Friday in apparent response to a series of executive orders from President Donald Trump on issues including diversity initiatives, the government’s recognition of only two genders and military orders to stop recognizing months such as Black History Month and National Hispanic Heritage Month.
On Jan. 31 and over the weekend, some websites returned with changes, others remained dark, and some came back with no changes, according to a data investigation by the New York Times. Web pages for agencies including the Centers for Disease Control, the Census Bureau, Department of Justice, Head Start, National Parks Service and the Food and Drug Administration were among those affected. The Associated Press offered its own list of web pages affected that included gender pages on the Bureau of Prisons website, National Parks Services pages about the Tuskegee AIrmen and the internment of Japanese Americans, and pages on the Census Bureau related to sexual orientation and LGBT issues.
An email to the Trump transition team requesting information about the webpage changes was not immediately returned.
While some of the pages that went dark belonged to large federal institution websites, in some cases entire .gov websites were taken offline, including USAID.gov, NeglectedDiseases.gov and ChildrenInAdversity.gov, according to Wired.
In the case of ChildrenInAdversity, part of the US Agency for International Development, a message appeared on Feb. 3 reading, “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.” USAID’s future as an organization is in doubt.
Since Trump’s inauguration in January, the new administration has made sweeping changes through executive orders affecting government staffing, energy policy and the recognition of gender diversity.Â