New research shows that 25% of web pages posted between 2013 and 2023 have disappeared, posing a serious threat to preserving digital history.
An Alarming Trend
Many assume the internet is permanent, but vast portions of its content vanish as pages are deleted or moved. The Pew Research Center reports that 38% of the pages from 2013 are no longer accessible, and even newer pages are at risk, with 8% of those posted in 2023 already gone.
This trend is alarming for those who rely on the web for vital information. A staggering 23% of news sites have broken links, along with 21% of government websites, while over half of Wikipedia’s pages contain at least one dead link, according to Digi24.
This creates a significant challenge for future historians trying to piece together digital records.
20% of Tweets No Longer Visible
Social media is also vulnerable. Nearly 20% of tweets are no longer visible a few months after they are posted, either due to account deletions or individual tweets being removed.
Efforts to preserve digital content exist, such as the Wayback Machine from the Internet Archive. This nonprofit organization, founded in 1996, has archived more than 866 billion web pages and millions of books and videos.
However, the organization faces financial struggles, legal challenges, and cyberattacks, jeopardizing its ability to continue its work.
Without proper archiving, large parts of today’s digital history may be lost forever. As web pages vanish and links die, the future understanding of this era risks becoming fragmented, leaving historians with incomplete records of how we lived and communicated online.
