WASHINGTON • Twitter will hand control of the presidential @POTUS account to Mr Joe Biden when he is sworn in on inauguration day, even if President Donald Trump has not conceded his election loss, US media have reported.
The social media giant is "actively preparing to support the transition of White House institutional Twitter accounts on Jan 20th, 2021", Twitter spokesman Nick Pacilio told Politico in an e-mail on Friday.
The process is being done in consultation with the National Archives, as it was in 2017, he said.
The handover will see all existing tweets on @POTUS, as well as @FLOTUS, @VP and other official accounts, archived.
The accounts will then be reset to zero tweets and transferred to the incoming Biden administration that day.
Mr Trump, who still has not conceded his Nov 3 loss, used Twitter to help build his political brand and, later, wield the power of the presidency - though he mainly uses his personal account, @realDonaldTrump, whose 88 million followers dwarf @POTUS' 32 million.
Mr Biden, for his part, is a far more sedate Twitter user. He has sent fewer than 7,000 tweets to his 19 million followers, compared with Mr Trump's 58,000.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
