Tech giants Twitter and Facebook have announced that they will handover the @POTUS (President of the United States) social media handles to US President-elect Joe Biden after he is inaugurated on 20 January 2021, regardless of whether incumbent leader Donald Trump concedes before that.
The POTUS US government account currently has more than 32.8 million followers. The current tweets posted during the Trump administration will be archived, and the account will be reset to zero tweets.
In a statement to The Hill news website, a Twitter spokesperson confirmed on Friday that the tech giant is "actively preparing to support the transition of White House institutional Twitter accounts on 20 January, 2021", which also includes @WHITEHOUSE, @VP, @FLOTUS, and a number of other official accounts.
“The process is being done in consultation with the National Archives and Records Administration” added the Twitter spokesperson.
Twitter has also confirmed that it’s staff will soon meet representatives from the Biden-Harris team to "review how the new administration plans to use its government-related accounts".
A Facebook spokesperson has confirmed that official Instagram handles of POTUS will also be handed over to Joe Biden after inauguration, reported The Verge.
"In 2017, we worked with both the Obama Administration and incoming Trump Administration to make sure the transition of their Facebook and Instagram accounts was seamless on January 20th, and we expect to do the same here," Facebook said in a statement, reported The Verge.
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