Presidential Twitter Accounts Will Reset to Zero Followers on Jan. 20
Donald Trump's followers won't automatically transition to the Biden administration.
By Stephanie Milot •
This story originally appeared on PCMag
Both Twitter and Facebook promised back in November to hand over control of all presidential accounts on Jan. 20, 2021, forcing Team Trump to cede position-specific handles @POTUS, @FLOTUS and @VP to incomers Joe Biden, Jill Biden,and Kamala Harris, respectively. The same goes for @WhiteHouse, @PressSec, @Cabinet and @LaCasaBlanca.
"As we did in 2017, Twitter is actively working with the U.S. government to support the transition of Twitter accounts across administrations, so that the incoming Biden administration will have access to institutional White House Twitter accounts," the company said in a statement. "The accounts will not automatically retain their existing followers," it continued. "Instead, Twitter will notify followers of these accounts to provide context that the content will be archived and allow them the choice to follow the Biden administration's new accounts."
Related: Twitter Now Labels Trump's Tweets With a Reminder Biden Won
Folks who already follow The White House, for example, will be notified that the account has been archived (via the @WhiteHouse45 handle), and given the option to follow Biden's fresh @WhiteHouse account.
