Politics are divided into groups of people who want to change things the way they want, opposing others who want to change things the way they want. It's a fact that is here to stay.
And Twitter is one of the few places where people can expressly voice their opinions. The nature of the microblogging platform allows anyone to tweet to express something, and be heard in real time. Twitter has been part of politics for quite a while because many politicians are there to be heard.
“A critical function of our service is providing a place where people can openly and publicly respond to their leaders and hold them accountable," as Twitter described it in its own words.
With Joe Biden as President-elect of the U.S. replacing Donald Trump, Twitter said that Biden won't inherit any of Trump's followers.
The @POTUS account when Biden takes over, will start from zero followers.
Twitter also confirmed that Biden will get the rights to the handle @POTUS, which stands for President of the United States, whether or not Trump concedes by January 20, 2021.
Twitter also said that it will transfer the @WhiteHouse, @VP, @FLOTUS, @PressSec, @Cabinet, and @LaCasaBlanca to the Biden administration right on Inauguration Day.
"The accounts will not automatically retain their existing followers. Instead, Twitter will notify followers of these accounts to provide context that the content will be archived and allow them the choice to follow the Biden administration's new accounts," Twitter said in a statement.
"For example, people who follow @WhiteHouse will be notified that the account has been archived as @WhiteHouse45 and given the option to follow the new @WhiteHouse account."
This a contrast to what happened back in 2017.
At that time, when Donald Trump's incoming administration inherited the @POTUS account from President Barack Obama, he also inherited Obama's millions of followers.
This happened because Obama’s administration insisted that Twitter transfer not only these accounts to Trump when he left the White House, but also the accounts’ followers as well. And Twitter appeared to do just what it was told.
But in Biden's case, not inheriting Trump's millions of followers on @POTUS isn't making his team happy. And this was reflected by some of the tweets by Rob Flaherty, the digital director for Biden's presidential campaign.
He said that "as of right now the Biden administration will have to start from zero." And in another tweet, he said that Biden's team pushed back against the idea, but was "told this was unequivocal."
But it should be noted though, that despite @POTUS is the official Twitter account for the President of the United States, Trump has been using his own @realDonaldTrump in most occasions. Trump has made his personal Twitter account a central part of his presidency, and it's through this account he tweeted most of his opinions.
During his presidency, Trump has been extremely active using his own account, issuing quick statements, as well as insulting opponents and even announcing policy decisions.
Twitter has in the past admitted at various times that Donald Trump isn’t bound by the same rules that govern the rest of Twitter users.
This executive privilege is because he is the President, and thus he is allowed to continue posting comments that should have banned any other users on the platform.
But once Biden takes the office, shall Trump continues using Twitter, he will be subjected to the same rules as any other user.
“If an account suddenly is not a world leader anymore, that particular policy goes away,” said Twitter founder and CEO Jack Dorsey, suggesting that Trump may have to lose all of his protections when he leaves office.
In a related news, Dorsey has also stopped following President Donald Trump on the social media platform, as well as Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump.