Donald Trump says there is ‘fraud’ in US Election result

Joe Biden is set to take over the White House next year with his inauguration on 20 January. Mr Biden’s team has challenged the plan to wipe the presidential accounts of their followers.

But Twitter said its decision was “unequivocal” even though it marks a U-turn from the last presidential transition.

In 2016, the social media giant granted Donald Trump’s request to keep President Barack Obama’s millions of followers.

On Monday, Rob Flaherty, the Mr Biden’s digital director tweeted: “In 2016, the Trump administration absorbed all of President Obama’s Twitter followers on @POTUS and @WhiteHouse – at Team 44’s urging.

“In 2020, Twitter has informed us that as of right now the Biden administration will have to start from zero.”

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Twitter’s decision will affect those who follow the US government-led accounts including @POTUS and @FLOTUS, the accounts of the President and First Lady.

The social media giant said it will notify those who follow the presidential accounts that they are being archived.

Twitter also said it will give those followers the choice to follow the Biden administration’s new presidential accounts.

The next US President’s personal Twitter account, @JoeBiden, already has 21.7 million followers and will not be tarnished by the move.

During his time at the White House, President Trump has used his Twitter accounts to engage with his voters and the world.

According to the BBC, he has tweeted more than 50,000 times during his presidency.

But since November, President Trump lost 369,849 followers from his personal account according to Factbase.

In the same timeframe, Mr Biden reportedly gained 2,671,790 followers on his personal account.

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President Trump has used his Twitter account to make several claims that the US election was “rigged” in Mr Biden’s favour.

On Wednesday, Mr Trump tweeted: “This was the most corrupt election in the history of our Country, and it must be closely examined!”

Twitter placed a censorship banner below the tweet captioned: “This claim about election fraud is disputed.”

Twitter also started warning social media users when they attempt to ‘like’ a disputed tweet from Mr Trump.

It came as part of the platforms efforts to tackle misinformation around the US presidential election.

In October, Mr Trump used his Twitter account to announce that he and Melania Trump had tested positive for the coronavirus.

The news of Twitter’s decision to wipe the presidential accounts comes after the social media giant’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, unfollowed various political figures including President Trump.

Mr Dorsey also unfollowed the President’s daughter Ivanka Trump, Mr Biden, and Vice-President elect Kamala Harris.

Twitter has said that once Mr Biden takes office, President Trump will be subject to the same rules as any other user.

Rebecca Lodge, marketing specialist from Start Up Disruptors, told BBC: “With millions of people following an account and Donald’s ‘fans’ being quite fanatical, it could be a clever move by Twitter to ensure that any potential negative and hate-fuelled tweets are neutralised before the new president-elect takes up his position.”

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