Biden starts new Twitter account @PresElectBiden

WASHINGTON • Mr Joe Biden's transition team has flipped the switch on a new Twitter account for the US President-elect, while clashing with the social media firm over its decision to deny the incoming administration millions of existing White House followers.

Mr Biden's transition opened @PresElectBiden on Thursday night to start building a following for one of the official accounts the new president will inherit at noon next Wednesday: @POTUS.

In a change in practice from 2017, when President Donald Trump entered office, Twitter Inc plans to reset both the @POTUS and @WhiteHouse official accounts to zero followers for Mr Biden. The two accounts currently have an audience of nearly 60 million in all, although there is overlap.

Mr Trump had a head start in 2017 when he inherited about 12 million followers of @POTUS from president Barack Obama's tenure, plus millions of followers from other official accounts.

Though he used his personal account, @realDonaldTrump, as his primary social media mouthpiece in his presidency, Mr Biden's aides think it is unfair Twitter is not handing over followers along with official accounts. "They are advantaging President Trump's first days of the administration over ours," Mr Rob Flaherty, the transition's digital director, who will be director of digital strategy in the Biden White House, said of Twitter.

Mr Biden's personal account, @JoeBiden, has about 24 million followers. That is tens of millions fewer than @realDonaldTrump had before Twitter permanently suspended the account last week after he egged on supporters who broke into the US Capitol.

The Biden team is also launching @FLOTUSBiden for the incoming First Lady, Mrs Jill Biden, @SecondGentleman for Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris' husband Doug Emhoff, and @PressSecPsaki for Ms Jennifer Psaki, the incoming White House press secretary.

Ms Harris' official Senate account, @SenKamalaHarris, will take the @VP handle on Inauguration Day.

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