Hm… I’m skepticalFeb 5
Simon Willison

The CIA just stopped publishing their World Factbook and took every page, including the archived copies of previous versions!

This sucks. It was public domain, so I recovered the 2020 edition (the last one published as a zip file) and shared it to GitHub https://simonwillison.net/2026/Feb/5/the-world-factbook/

Spotlighting The World Factbook as We Bid a Fond Farewell

Somewhat devastating news today from CIA: One of CIA’s oldest and most recognizable intelligence publications, The World Factbook, has sunset. There's not even a hint as to why they decided …

Simon Willison’s Weblog
Feb 5 at 12:25amWeb
Show threadSimon WillisonFeb 5
They had a most excellent editorial voice, as demonstrated by this "what's new" entry from December 10th 2020 about the height of Mount Everest https://simonw.github.io/cia-world-factbook-2020/docs/whatsnew.html
Show threadpeter sibleyFeb 5
@simon that’s really strange but I guess i shouldn’t be surprised.
Show threadmillennial fulcrumFeb 5
@simon thanks mate.
Show threadsortius Feb 5
@simon damn, I kind of knew this was coming. It was such an important resource for fact checking/verifying information against reputable sources
Show threadAdrian Riskin Feb 5

@simon

These are all available on Anna's Archive also...

https://annas-archive.li/search?q=World+Factbook+

World Factbook - Search - Anna’s Archive

Show threadIan WagnerFeb 5
@simon That is so weird! what the heck?
Show threadPseudo NymFeb 5

@simon

2016 version made it into archive.org

Might be good to host the 2020 version and submit it there as well

https://archive.org/details/worldfactbook2010000unse_h9e8

The World Factbook 2016-17 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

liv, 870 pages, 12 leaves of plates : 29 cm +

Internet Archive
Show threadPetra van CronenburgFeb 5
@pseudonym 👍🏼 @simon
Show threadKanaMaunaFeb 5

@simon

Something in there was inconvenient.

Show threadDaniel Pache⚓Feb 5
@simon @KanaMauna don't be ridiculous. There's no particular reason other than: the orange menace doesn't like the word "fact".
Show threadKanaMaunaFeb 5

@deep470 @simon

Probably was easier to just shelf the project than try to figure out what was offending the god emperor this week.

Show threadPieter Kuiper 🌍🇳🇱Feb 5

@deep470

Or he hates the word "world".

Or the word "book".
@simon @KanaMauna

Show threadHuntn00Feb 5
@simon Better to kill in secrecy than mess with complicated disinformation.
Show threadxs4me2Feb 5

@simon

Unbelievable…

Guess I will download it!

Show threadEm & future cats 🇺🇦🐈🏳️‍🌈Feb 5
@simon No!!! I used that as a reference and source for a Spanish paper that I wrote 😿 (it was a small paper for a simple Spanish course but still it meant a lot to me)
It was about the “Alfombras” in Antigua Guatemala during Holy Week. 😿
Show threadaburka 🫣Feb 5
@simon hate this new trend where if you stop updating something it needs to be instantly memory holed and edited out of the historical record
Show threadMagical CatFeb 5
@simon
Pages of that book saddened dictators for decades.
Although dictators are being ousted not by factbooks but other means, but even just making dictators sad a bit is better than licking their boots.
Show threadYuki "neige d'aout" Hazuki 膤 ❄️ ​Feb 5

@simon Aww, the CIA stopped being fun now

Was it updated past 2020? Probably not, huh?

Show threadKevin RussellFeb 5

@Yuki

Yes it was updated.

Show threadLightfighterFeb 5
@simon This was one of first things I used on the internet. I think it was on fed world.gov back in the Gopher days.
Show threadstevenrayFeb 5
@simon the Wayback Machine might help.
Show threadKevin RussellFeb 5

@simon

Thank you. Great publishing. The internet archive may have more.

Show threadCaleb Hearth Feb 5
@simon archive.org?
Show threadbigjslFeb 5
@simon facts are the enemy of MAGA.
Show threadMab_813Feb 5

@bigjsl @simon

It's not like it contained facts only.
I remember reading, about my own country, that most Austrians are ethnically Germans, which is bullshit.

Show threadKaleissinFeb 5

@bigjsl @simon @Mab_813 So it was an excellent source/documentation of American bias/worldview/official reality then, which is useful.

That specific example might also be the old fallacy "speaks L, is L-ian". </linguist-hat>

Show threadM SchommerFeb 5
@simon @bigjsl
Context even more.
Show thread☮ ♥ ♬ 🧑‍💻Feb 5
@simon thx Simon. 🕵️‍♂️📖
Show threadHumble Fan of Atty. WooFeb 5

@simon

go to the head of the class.....kudos

Show threadPeter BrownFeb 5

@simon removing sources of information is entirely consistent with preferring an uneducated uninformed electorate. I believe it was Reagan‘s advisors that warned him that an educated electorate was a threat to their policies.

So now when the Dear Leader stands up to pontificate about other countries there is no CIA source available to contradict him.

The US is now a backward country with increasing levels of illiteracy and education becoming increasingly unattainable for most

Show threadRenéFeb 5
@simon think also to the internet archive.org band their wayback machine. #github is owned by #microsoft so no guarantees on that forum.
Show threadpaulwalkFeb 5
@simon thank you!
Show threadΓιανίρηςFeb 5

There was a WB/IBRD World Book published but I remember some political/economic data were from the FUCKEDbook

@simon

Show threadPetra van CronenburgFeb 5
@simon I think it was the word "fact" that let the fascists react. Although, as a European, I would never trust the CIA as a source of facts. Never.
Thanks for saving data.
Show threadElHombreMaloFeb 5
@NatureMC @simon Back in the early internet I used that website often. It was fairly neutral, hard data. A very useful tool. Goverments use intelligence services for all kind of nefarious purposes but intelligence services usually hire a lot of talented people with out of the norm curiosity and interest about the world. The factbook was PR but it was also an expression of that interest and curiosity
Show threadPetra van CronenburgFeb 5

@elhombremalo I believe you.
But as a journalist, I trust only independent sources. And you say yourself that it was PR for the CIA.

I see the deletion of that site as only a part of the fascist fight against facts, knowledge, and education.

@simon

Show threadRenke MeuweseFeb 5
@simon is there a clearer metaphor of the United States closing itself off from the world and its government closing itself off from any public conversation? Stunning.
Show threadKevin McMurphy 🤔Feb 5
@simon what a shame. I used this extensively in undergrad (International Affairs)
Show threadinkFeb 5
@simon it does suck, and to top it all off the condescendingly smug and vapid announcement of the closure sucks. The attitude that a website is just marketing, and isn't an information source to be maintained over time is shockingly prevalent in society.
Show threadgaryFeb 5
@simon just mirror it on your own site - don't give it to ms for god's sake, now it is going to need antibiotics
Show threadWorkshopshedFeb 5
@simon A good source of info about countries. I used that a lot when I was travelling for work
Show threadKathrynFeb 5
@simon SO sad. It was great resource for geography classes.
Show threadRealGene ☣️Feb 5
@simon
If only they hadn't used "fact" in the name…
Show threadAnthony SoraceFeb 5
@simon @dasparky These people are stupid enough that I’d believe they just did a blanket search for “fact” and put all the results on the chopping block.
Show threadChina.Gamer.Guy 神州电玩客Feb 5

@simon
Thank goodness for The Archive..

https://web.archive.org/web/20260204071503/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/

Show threadJason Bowen 🇺🇦Feb 6

@simon "He who controls the present controls the past. He who controls the past controls the future."

So we're literally at 1984.

Show threadUnus NemoFeb 6

@simon

You can find plenty of other versions on Project Gutenberg They do not have 2020 yet, you could share it there.

edit: Never mind, I forked your repo, I can share it there 😉. Already have a localhost copy up on my rig.