US President-elect Joe Biden’s President of the United States (POTUS) Twitter account will not inherit Trump's current followers on Inauguration day in January. Twitter in a statement said that Biden will not automatically inherit the followers of the previous administration when he officially takes control of the account on Twitter. Trump’s POTUS account has over 33 million followers. The company will also transfer the @WhiteHouse, @VP, @FLOTUS, @PressSec, @Cabinet, and @LaCasaBlanca to the Biden administration on Inauguration Day.
"The accounts will not automatically retain their existing followers. 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," Twitter said in a statement. "For example, people who follow @WhiteHouse will be notified that the account has been archived as @WhiteHouse45 and given the option to follow the new @WhiteHouse account."
This is in reversal to when Trump took office in 2017 and his incoming administration inherited the POTUS Twitter account from President Barack Obama with millions of followers. Biden’s team does not seem happy with the social media platform's decision. Rob Flaherty, the digital director for Biden's presidential campaign, said in a tweet Tuesday that Twitter told Biden's transition team that he will have to start from zero.
“"In 2016, the Trump admin absorbed all of President Obama's Twitter followers on @POTUS and @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," Flaherty wrote.
Biden will be given the login for the POTUS Twitter account on the day he is sworn into office. Twitter is actively preparing to support the transition of White House institutional Twitter accounts on January 20th, 2021."
After the said inauguration day, Trump will have to follow the same rules and regulations on Twitter as everybody else or the social media platform could remove his tweets would no longer be subject to the "public interest" exceptions Twitter makes for government leaders.
"Trump’s Twitter account (@realDonaldTrump), which has more than 88 million followers, will no longer receive special privileges when he becomes a private citizen," Twitter spokesman Nick Pacilio told The Journal. The policy only applies to current world leaders and candidates for office, and not private citizens when they no longer hold these positions.
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