Suppression of government data

Suppression of government data is the removal, delayed release, or selective publication of public-interest data — economic statistics, public-health figures, environmental measurements, agency performance metrics — on political grounds. Concrete forms include the takedown of agency datasets from public websites, the indefinite delay of routinely scheduled reports, the redaction of inconvenient material from published reports, and instruction to agency leadership to withhold findings until they can be "reviewed." Routine quality review is ordinary; suppression is what happens when the review's effect is to make politically inconvenient data unavailable.