The Trump administration started shutting down federal web sites Friday night, taking them offline briefly to take away range, fairness and inclusion content material.
Searches of diversity-related net pages resulted in messages reminiscent of “web page not discovered” or “content material not discovered” at federal web sites, together with these for the Division of Agriculture, Division of Commerce, Division of Labor, Division of Inside, Office of Personnel Administration, and Federal Bureau of Investigations.
The Trump administration informed a number of information retailers that the federal web sites would go darkish beginning at about 5 p.m. ET Friday to take away DEI-related pages in addition to any content material against President Trump’s agenda.
The trouble got here in response to a bunch of government orders issued by Mr. Trump shortly after his Jan. 20 inauguration, together with his Jan. 22 order that “protects civil rights and merit-based alternative by ending unlawful DEI.”
“Particular person dignity, arduous work, and excellence are elementary to American greatness,” the order mentioned. “This Government Order reaffirms these values by ending the Biden-Harris administration’s anti-constitutional and deeply demeaning “fairness” mandates, terminating DEI, and defending civil rights.”
A second order, “Defending Ladies from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Organic Fact to the Federal Authorities,” mentioned that the federal government acknowledges two sexes, female and male.
The Workplace of Personnel Administration responded by instructing businesses in a Jan. 29 memo to close down DEI workplaces and place staffers on administrative go away by 5 p.m. Jan. 31.
The memo additionally mentioned that businesses ought to “Take down all outward dealing with media (web sites, social media accounts, and many others.) that inculcate or promote gender ideology” by the deadline.
Federal DEI initiatives are usually described as “DEIA,” an acronym for range, fairness, inclusion and accessibility.
Q: Authorities web sites will likely be shut down this night to wash them of DEI content material…
Trump: It doesn’t sound like a nasty concept to me. DEI would have ruined our nation and now it’s lifeless. pic.twitter.com/UgKZ8Aaqsv
— Mr Producer (@RichSementa) January 31, 2025
These eradicating DEI content material included the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, which briefly eliminated its HIV web page because it sought to eradicate content material associated to gender identification, in accordance with NBC Information.
“The method is underway,” an company staffer informed NBC Information. “There’s simply a lot gender content material in HIV that now we have to take every thing down so as to meet the deadline.”
• Stephen Dinan and Dave Boyer contributed to this story.
