Biden transition team says Twitter told it current followers of @POTUS won't carry over to Biden, whose @POTUS account will start at zero, a reversal from 2017

- Followers were transfered to Trump from Obama in 2017 — First lady, press secretary accounts also reset to zero

Bloomberg 2020-12-23 Jennifer Epstein

Context & Ripple Effects

When Twitter announced in November that it would hand @POTUS and other official handles to Biden at the swearing-in — with Facebook pledging the same — the assumption was continuity with 2017, when Obama's followers were carried over to Trump. The transition team now says Twitter has reversed course: Biden's @POTUS, @FLOTUS, and @PressSec will all start from zero.

The change lands against an awkward backdrop: in 2017 Twitter had to investigate complaints that it autofollowed users to @POTUS without their consent, and its later Inauguration Day plan pairs the reset with archiving several official accounts — making this handover more of a clean break than a migration.

First-order effects

Biden's communications operation inherits institutional accounts with no audience, forcing it to rebuild reach on @POTUS, @FLOTUS, and @PressSec from scratch while Trump retains his own massive personal following.

Second-order effects

Users who followed @POTUS under Trump must actively choose to re-follow the account under Biden, turning passive institutional reach into opt-in reach and shifting the White House's distribution strategy toward its own new channels.

Third-order effects

If every transition now resets official accounts, platforms become the de facto rule-setters for how the presidency changes hands digitally — establishing an archive-and-restart norm for government social media analogous to physical records handover.

The trend: Social platforms are formalizing digital handover protocols for official government accounts, replacing follower inheritance with archive-and-reset transitions.

Discussion

Vox Sara Morrison on x
The viral tweet about Trump refusing to give Biden his @POTUS followers is wrong, even if it is on-brand
@rob_flaherty Rob Flaherty on x
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. https://twitter.com/...
@jeneps Jennifer Epstein on x
Biden will get the @potus account and others like @whitehouse but his team has been told the followers won't be transferred, as they were from Obama to Trump. https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@hugolowell Hugo Lowell on x
Correction: Digital Director for Joe Biden @Rob_Flaherty says @POTUS and @WhiteHouse accounts being reset to zero followers is Twitter's decision, not the Trump admin. Unclear still whether Trump admin has asked for followers to roll over as Obama did in 2016. https://twitter.com…
@celesteheadlee Celeste Headlee on x
I think Biden will not struggle to get new followers. https://twitter.com/...
@nancyscola Nancy Scola on x
So Twitter (and not the Trump WH) has decided to reset the @POTUS and @WhiteHouse accounts to zero followers before they're handed over to Biden. Not clear to me yet why. https://www.politico.com/...
@philww Phil Wainewright on x
Smart move by transition team to get ahead of this potential decision by @Twitter and effectively nuke it https://www.techmeme.com/...
@timfullerton Tim Fullerton on x
Wow so it turns out this is Twitter's decision. Why did Trump get an instant platform of Obama supporter to message and Biden doesn't get the same with the audience the Trump Admin has built? https://www.theverge.com/...
@blackamazon @blackamazon on x
This is an AWFUL decision and what should have actually been part of the verification discussion It's a terrible precedent and was an easy win https://twitter.com/...
@gadgetsboy Tomi Adebayo on x
Would he want trump supporters as followers anyway? https://twitter.com/...
@yashar Yashar Ali on x
What an odd decision https://twitter.com/...
@jeneps Jennifer Epstein on x
Rob says Twitter has told the Biden team will get the @potus and @whitehouse handles with no followers attached. Each account's millions of followers rolled over from Obama to Trump. https://twitter.com/...
@bidenwarroom @bidenwarroom on x
Sure @Twitter @NickPacilio, let's make it harder for people to hear from their elected officials. https://twitter.com/...
@joycewhitevance Joyce Alene on x
We know how to fix this, right Twitter? But if Biden has to start at 0, then Trump should have to go out with 0 and start over again. Fair is fair. https://twitter.com/...
@timsteno Tim Stenovec on x
Biden will get the @POTUS Twitter account, but won't get the followers. This is a reversal from 2016, when Trump got the followers from Obama's @POTUS account. https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@emmakinery Emma Kinery on x
When Donald Trump took office in 2017 and took over the @POTUS handle, he gained all of the followers Barack Obama had amassed. Joe Biden's @POTUS twitter account will start with 0 followers, not the 33M the handle currently has https://www.bloomberg.com/...

Chronicles