Image credit: US government
Twitter has confirmed it will reset all Potus accounts so the Biden administration will not inherit Trump’s Twitter followers on official Presidential accounts.
The move is a reversal of its previous policy during the last presidential transition, when Twitter agreed to Donald Trump’s request in 2016 to inherit Barack Obama’s millions of followers for official presidential accounts.
According to the BBC, President elect Biden’s team “fought” the plan, but the social media giant said its decision was “unequivocal”.
“In 2016, the Trump administration absorbed all of President Obama’s Twitter followers on @POTUS and @WhiteHouse – at Team 44’s urging,” Rob Flaherty, the president-elect’s digital director, tweeted on Monday.
“In 2020, Twitter has informed us that as of right now the Biden administration will have to start from zero.”
Twitter’s decision will reset the number of followers on accounts such as @POTUS, @FLOTUS and @WhiteHouse.
The accounts for @VP, @PressSec, @Cabinet, and @LaCasaBlanca will also have their followers wiped, Twitter reportedly said.
Twitter said those who follow the current presidential accounts will be notified that they are being archived, and will be given the choice to follow the Biden administration’s new accounts.
It should be noted that President elect Biden’s personal account, @JoeBiden, which has 21.7 million followers, will be unaffected by the move.
It is unclear at the time of writing why Twitter has decided not to allow Biden to inherit the followers of the official Presidential accounts, but it has been speculated it is to remove any fanatical supporters of President Trump.
And there can be no doubt that President Trump used Twitter extensively during his time in office, to express his views.
Indeed, it is reported that during his time in the White House, he has tweeted more than 50,000 times.
The BBC reported that Twitter’s decision came just days after chief executive Jack Dorsey unfollowed numerous political figures on the platform, including Trump, Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris.
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