Facebook on Wednesday confirmed that it is transferring the millions of followers of the official Facebook and Instagram White House accounts to the Biden administration.
Details: The accounts for "@POTUS," "@VicePresident" ("@VP" on Instagram) and "@FLOTUS" are having the followers from their personal Pages and accounts be transferred over. It's unclear when that transition process will be complete.
- The followers from the official White House Facebook Page and Instagram account are being duplicated to the new administration's White House Facebook Page and Instagram account.
- On Facebook, the followers for "@POTUS," "@VicePresident" and "@FLOTUS" are being duplicated from their personal Pages — "@JoeBiden," "@KamalaHarris" and "@DrJillBiden."
- On Instagram, the followers for "@POTUS," "@VP" and "@FLOTUS" are being duplicated from their personal accounts, which are "@joebiden," "@kamalaharris" and "@drbiden."
- There are new accounts for Vice President Harris' husband Doug Emhoff, which are "@SecondGentleman" on Facebook and "@Secondgentleman" on Instagram.
Between the lines: The accounts that were formerly used by the Trump administration have been renamed "White House 45," "VP45" and "FLOTUS45," and have been archived.
- The @POTUS Instagram account was not used by the 45th administration, which is why it is not being archived. The Trump administration used President Trump's personal account instead on Instagram.
- The archived accounts from the 45th administration are being maintained by the National Archives and Records Administration. Those accounts maintain all of their followers.
The big picture: Twitter said last month it would not transfer the followers associated with official accounts, which drew ire from the Biden campaign's digital director.
- Twitter did not provide a reason publicly for why it wasn't carrying the followers over, as it had during the 2017 transition. A Wall Street Journal report out last month suggests it's in part because the transition of followers from the Obama and Trump administrations experienced technical glitches and user complaints.
What's next: Donald Trump's personal Page continues to be indefinitely banned on Facebook and Instagram.
