After it was announced that data from Government sites such as the CDC and FDA were being removed, I did what any good Data Hoarder does and started hoarding more. I have a fairly small instance of TubeArchivist to keep a list of niche channels downloaded, but I turned it to a number of Government channels to try and save as much content as I could in fear that it would be removed.

Those fears were justified as over this past weekend, the CFPB’s YouTube channel was emptied, and I’m seeing a number of videos being removed from other channels I did download.

Methodology and Disclaimers

Starting on February 1st, I started a bulk download of these YouTube channels:

  • CDC
  • FDA
  • HHS
  • FEMA
  • Census

And starting days later, I added these:

  • Kennedy Center
  • Department of State
  • National Archives

I start my bulk downloads with a list of video ID’s, and I then break them into chunks of around 100. I then feed the download queue whenever it’s empty to keep things continually downloading. There’s no set order, the chunks are randomized in each channel, and there’s only one download thread active at a time to prevent rate limits.

I re-ran the scripts to get what should be the same list, but videos that were removed will be absent. Finding video IDs in the old list that aren’t in the new list gives us a manifest of what was removed. Many of these I have copies and metadata for, so the title is shared. Some I have a video file, but I lack metadata due to rate limits and other bugs.

Keep in mind, there’s no way to know why a video was removed. It could be the result of an executive order barring the discussion of certain terms, or it could be normal culling due to a number of innocent factors. I included all my channels, and some show what I believe to be normal culling for comparison.

Where Can I Find These Videos?

I’m uploading my videos to my Archive.Org account. The uploads are paced quite slow mostly to not upset anyone. If a video hasn’t been uploaded, it will make it there eventually (I only do a hundred or so a day, and these are mixed in with active videos as well). If you need a copy, let me know and I can bump it to the top of my list.

Some videos are missing entirely, as they were removed before I could download them. The IDs are shared, but there will be no links.

Videos Removed By Channel

These lists have been updated since originally published. There were some math errors in the video counts that have been corrected, and the lists are now sorted.

I re-ran the same procedure again to get more videos that have been removed, and those are called out as well.

CDC

329 videos removed of 6112

Newly removed videos as of March 7:

Videos that I do not have a copy or metadata for:

  • 2PnYYb_xj3U
  • A4-AdrkEuiA
  • rS1ctVYw86E

Videos removed as of February 17:

Videos that I do not have a copy or metadata for:

  • h-5zxjq56pU

FDA

5 videos removed of 2868

Newly removed videos as of March 7:

Videos removed as of February 17:

Videos that I do not have a copy or metadata for:

  • DHIoWHzjrrQ

HHS

91 videos removed of 844

Newly removed videos as of March 7:

Videos removed as of February 17:

Census Bureau

9 videos removed of 2021

Newly removed videos as of March 7:

Videos removed as of February 17:

Videos that I do not have a copy or metadata for:

  • k2uI7utvrJg
  • k99ycC-MziM
  • sk-kWKsBZ2Y

National Archives

3 videos removed of 3763

Newly removed videos as of March 7 that I do not have a copy or metadata for:

  • 8vaGsHkc7IY

Videos removed as of February 17:

Videos that I do not have a copy or metadata for:

  • sjz4Ly2OBhs

Department Of State

26 videos removed of 12958

Videos removed as of February 17 that I do not have a copy or metadata for (no videos removed since then):

  • 2dyI2ar-88U
  • 3J1WdDk9v7w
  • 4vEI7PbkWEg
  • 9tlXMjTDPa4
  • 9yUmYV6QceY
  • aIQ-TnMxyBw
  • BUX0FOBxcD0
  • C0cqPmS_16I
  • cNj56tws95U
  • c-WV_n-HH8c
  • gaYwqi8Avsc
  • gryNscD5poA
  • I-2DMrrdr_Y
  • NcT7WaIkESM
  • ogI7ZaOutHs
  • P7Xzo8ZVe_w
  • r0SK7JOHuSE
  • R4EGvSQr63w
  • REpftgoCqDo
  • RRG7mDYsmp8
  • SLSMZEK7rK8
  • tJcwVs0rYS4
  • URC6HmD1FG0
  • wgBJZbwSIgU
  • z0BaM5XyuTw
  • Z1hpZh0Z4XU

FEMA

81 videos removed of 2607

Newly removed videos as of March 7:

Videos that I do not have a copy or metadata for:

Videos removed as of February 17:

Videos that I do not have a copy or metadata for:

  • 4PYnghRIWlQ
  • 8DhmHWxxbfc
  • GhsEyauLI1Y
  • jWcJtfF9hpI
  • Khh5RZ1KJ0E
  • q3Cr9aEvcgE
  • wSyQT4NIi8o
  • XEhfMP3m_WE
  • YWJi8n6Ea-w

Kennedy Center

16 videos removed of 6551

Videos removed as of February 17 (no videos removed since then):

Videos that I do not have a copy or metadata for:

  • 07hb1Egy9iA
  • 3HOntaoXk_c
  • eJXvukkX1Fc
  • lhxBCbml10M
  • mF9WmU0Or40
  • Q1Yd75FPAD4
  • RxKepAXNan0
  • SC1EkmnA7Qs
  • twSrllzpa-A
  • WtCsbZIR9_c
  • XX9UCVadqLs
  • zAaKawJYWTA