White House temporarily takes down ‘We the People’ petition site before responding to a single one

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The famous “we the people” preamble to the United States Constitution. Photo: Handout

Published: 9:49am, 20 Dec 2017Updated: 9:49am, 20 Dec 2017

The White House has taken down a popular online tool created by the Obama administration that allowed citizens to create online petitions, some of which required an official response.

All of the petitions, including one that called on President Donald Trump to release his tax returns – the most popular, with more than a million signatures – disappeared from Petitions. WhiteHouse. Gov as part of what a statement posted on the site said was part of a maintenance effort to improve its performance.

The statement said that the site as well as all of its existing petitions would be restored by the end of January.

“All existing petitions and associated signatures have been preserved and will be available when the site is relaunched,” the note said. “Following the site’s relaunch, petitions that have reached the required number of signatures will begin receiving responses.”

A #ChineseLivesMatter petition on the We the People site, launched in response to United Airlines’ manhandling of a passenger in April, reached its goal of 100,000 signatures. Photo: WethePeople

The site was launched by the Obama White House in 2011 as part of an effort to give citizens a resource to lobbying the government for legislation and other changes, however limited. It has been a subject of fascination for years, due to the varied and colourful nature of the many pleas on the site as well as the requirement that the White House respond when petitions receive more than 100,000 digital signatures.

“We the people” is a reference to the famous preamble of the US Constitution.

During the Obama years, respondents quickly learned the difference between a response and a reaction. A study done by the Pew Research Centre last year of 4,800 petitions on the site showed that many of those that received the most attention revolved around pop culture, including petitions to deport Justin Bieber, after a spate of bad behaviour on behalf of singer, build a Death Star from the movie Star Wars, and for then president Barack Obama to appear on Bill Maher’s HBO show.