Twitter is preparing to yank several official White House accounts from the Trump administration and transfer control to presumptive President-elect Joseph R. Biden’s team once he takes office.
In a statement, Twitter confirmed Saturday it plans to hand over several accounts to the incoming administration on Inauguration Day in two months when Mr. Biden is expected to start his term.
“Twitter is actively preparing to support the transition of White House institutional Twitter accounts on January 20th, 2021,” Twitter said in a statement.
“As we did for the presidential transition in 2017, this process is being done in close consultation with the National Archives and Records Administration,” Twitter told The Washington Times.
President Trump will not be stripped of his Twitter personal account, @realDonaldTrump, as part of the transition, although he will lose access to the @POTUS handle he inherited from his predecessor.
The verified @WhiteHouse account is also set to be handed over, as well as the @VP and @FLOTUS handles currently used by Vice President Pence and first lady Melania Trump, respectively, among others.
Former President Barack Obama joined Twitter in 2015, and he posted on the platform using @POTUS until Mr. Trump took office. Those posts are now archived on a different account, @POTUS44.
The National Archives and Records Administration, or NARA, has historically played a major part in preserving records after presidential transitions, including Twitter accounts, the company noted.
More than 30 accounts previously used by members of the Obama administration were similarly archived after the former president left office, as well as accounts used by various executive agencies.
News of Twitter’s plans was first reported by Politico.
Mr. Biden is set to succeed Mr. Trump as a result of preliminary results making him the clear winner of the recent White House race. Mr. Trump has not conceded and claims to have won, however.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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