The case of the missing US data

In early February 2025, something strange started happening across US government websites. Decades of data began disappearing from webpages for agencies such as the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and the Census Bureau. In many cases the entire website went dark.

Within a few days some 8,000 government pages and 3,000 datasets had been taken down. Since then, many have been reinstated - but some have not. We speak to Professors Maggie Levenstein and John Kubale to find out why this data was taken away, and why any of it matters.

If you spot any numbers or statistical claims that you think we should check out contact: [email protected]

Presenter: Tim Harford Producer: Lizzy McNeill Sound engineer: Neil Churchill Series producer: Tom Colls Production co-ordinator: Rosie Strawbridge Editor: Richard Vadon