Twitter to wipe Trump's followers before Biden handover
CALIFORNIA, USA - Twitter has confirmed that the official US presidential accounts will be wiped of their millions of followers before being transferred to the Biden administration. Mr Biden's team "fought" the plan, but the social media giant said its decision was "unequivocal".
The move marks a reversal from the last transition. Twitter agreed to Donald Trump's request in 2016 to inherit Barack Obama's millions of followers.
“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.”
It affects followers of government-led accounts such as @POTUS and @FLOTUS, all of which will be transferred to Mr Biden when he takes over the presidency in January.
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.
Mr Biden’s personal account, @JoeBiden, has 21.7 million followers and will be unaffected by the move.
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