Global Governments Suppress Public Data Threatening Democracy

Around the world, governments are hiding or changing important public information.

This makes it hard for journalists to report the truth, for watchdog agencies to track problems, and for citizens to stay informed.

Countries like the US, India, and Australia are doing this, even though they are supposed to be democracies.

In the US, the Trump administration removed many climate and environmental datasets.

In India, the government is accused of hiding information about poverty and the environment.

In Argentina, new rules make it harder to access public information.

In Australia, it takes a very long time to get information through Freedom of Information requests.

This trend is called 'information scarcity,' and it's a big problem because it makes it harder for people to hold their governments accountable.

When official data is missing or changed, it can also affect artificial intelligence systems that use this data.

In Brazil, when the government stopped sharing Covid-19 data, volunteers had to collect and share the information themselves to keep people informed.