Twitter Is Going To Set The @POTUS Account's Followers To 0 Before Biden Takes Office
In 2016, ahead of the Trump administration, the Obama team granted Donald Trump access to the @POTUS Twitter account and its millions of followers. Apparently, Joe Biden will not be extended the same courtesy.
According to Biden's digital campaign strategist Rob Flaherty, Twitter has said that Biden will have to pull himself up by the bootstraps and start his Presidency with 0 followers--at least on the @POTUS account.
In 2016, the Trump admin absorbed all of President Obama's Twitter followers on
POTUS</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">WhiteHouse -- at Team 44's urging. In 2020, Twitter has informed us that as of right now the Biden administration will have to start from zero. https://t.co/wj1R02SmiK— Rob Flaherty (@Rob_Flaherty) December 22, 2020
The bizarre, petty controversy led Flaherty to threaten to share the email thread where Twitter told him "unequivocally" that the POTUS, FLOTUS, and PressSec accounts will have their follower counts reset after Biden takes office. Twitter spokesperson Nick Pacillo said "no need."
Hey Rob, no need i'm familiar with it!
— Nick Pacilio (@NickPacilio) December 22, 2020
The Wall Street Journal, who first reported the story while covering the way Twitter will treat Trump when he's no longer president, noted that the 2016 transition from Obama to Trump led to "technical glitches" and complaints from users.
Complicating the matter is a report from Hugo Lowell that the Biden team said Trump was refusing to pass on the accounts.
Biden transition says Trump admin has refused to transfer the
POTUS</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">WhiteHouse Twitter accounts with followers and that Biden must start from zero -- reversing goodwill gesture from Obama admin in 2016.— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) December 22, 2020
While this seems very in character with Trump considering his unwillingness to cede anything to Biden, including the election he lost, it conflicts with reports elsewhere that the @POTUS Twitter account is under the domain of Twitter, not Trump.
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NOT_CLYDE
He's living up to his slogan
Concerned Troll
He never uses that account anyway.
Dolan
When I read the title I thought it was the other way around. Like they nuke Trump's account and restore it when Biden takes office. Now that would start a shitstorm.
umatbro
WTF? This can't be legal.
Diceyed Liam
it's a social media platform with their own rules. There is no law against it, especially if twitter technically owns the account and only lets the acting president use it temporally.
Macaco Monarca
when you control what others can see, you can make your own rules
Peanut970
I don't see why this is such a big deal, though. It's a new person in charge of the account, so they have to start over. Seems valid to me, unless there's something I don't understand here.