When President Donald Trump was inaugurated on Friday, he was not only handed the nuclear codes, but also control of the @POTUS Twitter account that had been previously used by former President Barack Obama.
But the transfer of power on Twitter hasn’t been as smooth as the one that occurred on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. Twitter users have been griping since Friday about the switch, which many have said “forced” them to follow the new @POTUS or @FLOTUS, even if they didn’t want to follow Trump and his wife Melania like they did Obama and his wife Michelle. Some even said they’d deliberately avoided the account, but ended up following anyway.
https://twitter.com/MickeyFisher73/status/822630151347380225
https://twitter.com/julieannemery/status/822631641797509121
You're on notice @Twitter:
Please do not force me to follow anyone. Period. Full Stop.— Chely Wright (@chelywright) January 21, 2017
https://twitter.com/keithcalder/status/822632383623077892
Does @twitter not realize that making people follow @POTUS is just begging people to mock @POTUS?
— Dr. Janet D. Stemwedel, PhD 🏳️🌈 (@docfreeride) January 21, 2017
https://twitter.com/SaraJBenincasa/status/822631485840719872
Late Friday, Twitter responded to user’s concerns saying they were “investigating” and “resolving” the issue.
We are aware of the issue with migrating @POTUS followers and investigating. More soon.
— Support (@Support) January 21, 2017
While there may have been some complications during the @POTUS transition today, the issue is being resolved.
— Support (@Support) January 21, 2017
Early Saturday, Twitter said it was still working on resolving the issue.
Update: We continue to work on the investigation and fix for the @POTUS migration. Stay tuned!
— Support (@Support) January 21, 2017
Later on Saturday, Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey explained what happened in a series of tweets.
1. People who followed @POTUS44 (Obama Admin) after 12pET were mistakenly set to also follow @POTUS (Trump Admin).
— jack (@jack) January 21, 2017
2. Some people who unfollowed @POTUS in the past were mistakenly marked to now follow @POTUS
— jack (@jack) January 21, 2017
We believe this affected about 560,000 people. This was a mistake, it wasn't right, we own it, and we apologize. No excuses.
— jack (@jack) January 21, 2017