President Joe Biden, less than an hour after his swearing in, has posted his first official tweet from the @POTUS account after Twitter transferred it from Donald Trump's control.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"There is no time to waste when it comes to tackling the crises we face," Biden said in the post at 12.36 pm eastern time in the US on Wednesday.
"That's why today, I am heading to the Oval Office to get right to work delivering bold action and immediate relief for American families."
Twitter switched control of @POTUS and other official White House handles to the Biden administration on Wednesday, just minutes after he was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States.
Instead of migrating the followers of @POTUS under Trump, Twitter migrated users following @PresElectBiden to the new @POTUS. It followed the same process for other Biden-related accounts.
Those are @WhiteHouse, @VP, @FLOTUS and @PressSec. In addition, Twitter has created a new account for Harris' husband, Douglas Emhoff: @SecondGentleman.
As of this writing, Biden's @POTUS account has about 1 million followers and @WhiteHouse has 1.5 million.
The Trump administration's @POTUS account is now archived under @POTUS45, just as the Obama administration's account was archived at @POTUS44. Former President Obama was the first to use the @POTUS Twitter handle, which launched back in May 2015.
The archive is managed by the National Archives and Records Administration. The agency said it would "receive, preserve, and provide public access to all official Trump Administration social media content, including deleted posts from @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS." The content from the ex-president's accounts will be made available online at NARA's newly established trumplibrary.gov website.
On January 8, Twitter permanently banned Trump's personal account after pro-Trump attackers stormed into the US Capitol in a deadly clash with police.
Twitter determined that Trump had repeatedly violated its policies against inciting violence. That wiped out all of the 59,600 tweets -- including numerous rancorous, self-aggrandising and lie-filled posts - sent from @realDonaldTrump.
Meanwhile, Facebook similarly transferred the official White House page to Biden's team and the followers of Joe Biden's page were migrated to the POTUS page (which the Trump administration has not updated since May 2018).
The social giant suspended Trump's personal access to Facebook and Instagram indefinitely, citing the risk of inciting violence.
Australian Associated Press
