Interior Dept directs IT shop to ‘scrub’ non-English content from its websites

The Interior Department is directing all its bureaus and offices to delete non-English content from their websites by the end of the day Tuesday, according to an internal notice from its IT shop.

An IT specialist with the Office of the Chief Information Officer wrote in an email obtained by Federal News Network that Interior’s tech office was directed to remove non-English content from websites “by COB today.” Interior’s directive applies to all websites hosted on the Interior Department’s National Web Server System.

“We have received guidance today that we need all bureaus and offices to scrub their sites for non-English language,” the IT specialist wrote in the email, dated Tuesday.

In addition to scrubbing non-English content from websites, IT staff have been instructed to add a disclaimer at the bottom of each page, stating that “English is the official language and authoritative version of all federal information.”

President Donald Trump signed an executive order last year designating English as the official language of the United States. But the executive order did not require or direct agencies to make any changes to the services they provide to the public.

“Agency heads should make decisions as they deem necessary to fulfill their respective agencies’ mission and efficiently provide government services to the American people,” the EO states. “Agency heads are not required to amend, remove, or otherwise stop production of documents, products, or other services prepared or offered in languages other than English.”

An Interior Department spokesperson said in a statement that the department would not comment on “selectively leaked internal emails or anonymous speculation about routine compliance work.”

As an example of the upcoming changes, the IT employee shared a link to an Interior Department webpage about Spanish-language tours of the Yaquina Head Lighthouse on the Oregon coast.

The website was updated on Tuesday to include the new disclaimer. An earlier disclaimer states the page was posted before the second Trump administration and that “any previously issued diversity, equity, inclusion or gender-related guidance on this webpage should be considered rescinded.”

In the early days of the Trump administration, more than a dozen agencies took down more than 8,000 web pages, according to analysis from the New York Times. That purge primarily impacted DEI programs and content on gender identity, public health research and environmental policy.

Federal News Network first reported in July 2025 that more than 300 federal websites were targeted for elimination in a review led by the General Services Administration. Some Spanish-language websites were among those marked for removal.

Under the first Trump administration, some agencies focused on making their online content available to non-English speakers.

Former IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig, tapped by President Donald Trump to lead the tax agency during his first term, made it a priority during his tenure to make tax filing information available in 20 languages.

Rettig, in a November 2022 blog post, wrote that the “people who interact with us who are not comfortable communicating in English deserve more.”

“An important way we serve these taxpayers is by communicating with them in the language they are most comfortable using,” Rettig wrote.

More broadly, the Trump administration is scrubbing the online presence of previous administrations. NPR reported this week that the State Department will delete all its posts on X made before President Trump returned to office on Jan. 20, 2025.

If you would like to contact this reporter about recent changes in the federal government, please email jheckman@federalnewsnetwork.com, or reach out on Signal at jheckman.29

Copyright © 2026 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.