Trump administration officials are putting a pause on most federal government websites as of 5 p.m. EST on Friday, a source familiar with the matter said.

The move was first reported by CBS News. Shortly after 5 p.m., the U.S. Census website went down for some users. It was not immediately clear how many other websites had gone down.

CBS News senior White House reporter Jennifer Jacobs posted on X: "Guidance from the Office of Personnel Management directed all federal agencies to take steps 'no later than 5:00 EST on Wednesday' to 'take down all outward facing media (websites, social media accounts, etc.) of DEIA offices.' Some of the memo was misinterpreted, aides said."

She later posted on X: "DC panicked over a 5 pm deadline cited in a Trump admin memo. Guidance was sent to agencies to remove gender ideology-related content from their websites by 5 pm today, but admin doesn't plan to shut down websites that don't comply, McLaurine Pinover, OPM communications director said."

Newsmax staff contributed to this report.