When Joe Biden becomes president on January 20, his administration will take control OT Pottus And White House Twitter accounts. But those accounts should not go with the 60 million followers.
The relocation has become an issue between Twitter and the Biden Change team The Wall Street Journal. As in the case of the Obama-Trump change, the Biden group wants to keep followers of those accounts. Four years ago, the Obama administration first addressed this issue Turned it into a point To make the digital transition as smooth and seamless as possible. At the moment, Twitter has other ideas.
“Accounts do not retain followers of their own,” Twitter spokesman Nick Basilio said in a statement. “Instead, Twitter will provide an environment in which content can be archived for followers of these accounts, and will allow Biden management’s choice to follow new accounts.”
Twitter did not provide a reason for this change, but a Wall Street Journal article pointed to the 2017 Twitter change Technical malfunction. Among them, a glitch caused the OTPOTUS account to deliberately follow up automatically again, which many did not appreciate.
What could have exploded into a minor issue – where else? – Hugo Lowell, a freelance journalist, tweeted on Tuesday afternoon that the Trump administration had refused to give his followers to Biden.
The Biden change says the Trump administration has refused to relocate OT Pottus And White House Twitter accounts with followers and Biden should start from zero – changing the goodwill gesture from the Obama executive in 2016.
– Hugo Lowell (ug Hugolovell) December 22, 2020
But that is not true, according to Twitter, which said it was a “falsehood”. Biden Digital Director Rob Flaherty agreed.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Lowell declined to comment, but released an amendment.
Lowell’s false tweet has received thousands of retweets and “likes”, and understandably: doing something like this is in line with Trump’s brand. Trump Frantic Since he has so many followers and more than anyone else it would make sense if he hates to give to the person who beat him the tens of thousands of followers he bought when he was president.
Such smallness would have been an appropriate decision Twitter presidency. Twitter helped Trump get elected as he used the platform to raise his profile, speak out against Obama and spread other racist conspiracies. The site helped Trump run a successful presidential campaign, run the country, and finally, run a failed presidential campaign – all without changing his behavior or tone a bit.
Therefore, it is paradoxical that Trump will fall prey to viral misinformation through Twitter A misinformation Supersperter Itself. He lied, often, and then saw those lies spread on social media before being taken into traditional media forms.
President Trump faced some repercussions for his tweets. Only last year, When it was revealed that there was a real chance of him losing the election, social media sites tried to block the misinformation he widely used. It will be interesting to see how they treat him when his account is not subject to special rules for public officials; Twitter has already stated that it is considering taking Trump tweets that violate its rules (currently, this only refers to a fact check). When he stepped down in January, Trump took control of his personal account @realDonaldTrump, which he used more than official accounts, and had millions more followers than @POTUS and hWhiteHouse.
So above all, it is best to get a fresh start on the official White House accounts and the opportunity to rebuild from the ground up. We hope that those who follow those accounts will accept the opportunity to follow them again, regardless of the interest and respect in the offices – against whoever they are.
Update, December 22, 7pm ET: Hugo Lowell’s correction was added to the tweet and he declined to comment.
