More than one thousand websites in the United States .gov top level domain have gone offline since a 2011 memorandum (archived) issued by the President Obama with the stated intent of "improving online services." While the utility of many of the particular domains and sites hosted on them is debatable, Obama's aggressive culling has the primary effect of making the internet presence of the United States government less useful and far less reliable.

Linkrot, dead urls, and disappearing content are the greatest threats to the World Wide Web as a dependable source of information. Included in the cull were a number of Bush II era websites including Recall.gov, a consumer safety information clearing house. Obama readily supported the creation of an entire independent agency dedicated towards consumer finance protection, and yet under his watch one of the most important initiatives to come out of the Bush II administration regarding consumer health and life safety was axed.

The full list (archive) was discovered through a Freedom of Information Act request by Muckrock.