Politics

Joe Biden got 5 million followers in less than 24 hours after the @POTUS account was purged of everyone who followed it under Trump

President Joe Biden in the Oval Office after his inauguration on January 20, 2021. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Joe Biden gained 5 million followers in less than 24 hours after taking over the @POTUS account. Before it had 33 million followers amassed under Presidents Obama and Trump. But Twitter reset the count to zero before handing it over on Wednesday. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. President Joe Biden gained 4.9 million followers in less than 24 hours after he wa...
Tags: Twitter, Politics, Obama, Barack Obama, Trends, Joe Biden, News UK, Biden, Donald Trump, Trump, Oval Office, US Capitol, Tech Insider, Katie Canales, Donald Trump Biden, Sinead Baker

Biden's new presidential Twitter account follows just 12 people: Members of his White House and Chrissy Teigen

A composite image of Chrissy Teigen and President Joe Biden. Getty/Getty Biden's new official presidential Twitter account follows just 12 other profiles.  The accounts @POTUS follows are all White House figures, except celebrity Chrissy Teigen.  Teigen asked Biden for a follow on Wednesday, saying she had been blocked by Trump since 2017. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. President Joe Biden took over the official presidential Twitter account, @POTUS, on Wednesday, and c...
Tags: Twitter, Politics, Entertainment, White House, Los Angeles, Trends, Joe Biden, Washington Dc, News UK, John Legend, Chrissy Teigen, Biden, Donald Trump, Nina Simone, Trump, Hollywood California

Twitter locked the account of China's US embassy over a post that called Uighur women 'baby-making machines'

Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images On January 7, China's US embassy posted a tweet referring to oppressed Uighur women as "baby-making machines." Twitter removed the tweet on January 9, saying it violated the company's "policy against dehumanization." Twitter said Wednesday the account is still locked, meaning the embassy still hasn't removed the tweet. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Twitter locked the account of the Chinese Embassy in the US over a tweet that re...
Tags: Twitter, Politics, China, US, Trends, Bloomberg, Joe Biden, Bbc, Tech News, Homeland Security, Associated Press, State Department, Xinjiang, Donald Trump, China Daily, Uighur

Twitter Officially Transfers @POTUS Account to President Biden

Twitter switched over control of the official @POTUS account and other White House handles to President Joe Biden just minutes after he was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States. Twitter transferred the White House accounts to the Biden team on Wednesday after President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took the […]
Tags: Twitter, News, White House, Joe Biden, Biden, Kamala Harris, Inauguration, United States Twitter

President Joe Biden just inherited the @POTUS Twitter handle - but he didn't get its more than 33 million followers

President-elect Joe Biden and President Donald Trump. Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images, Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images The millions of followers on the official presidential accounts, including @POTUS, didn't transfer to Biden on Wednesday. This will be the second time the presidential Twitter accounts will pass to another president. Trump inherited almost 14 million followers from Obama in 2017, and that count quickly increased after Inauguration Day. Visit Business Insi...
Tags: Facebook, Twitter, Politics, News, Obama, Washington Post, White House, US, Barack Obama, Trends, Social Media, Joe Biden, Biden, Donald Trump, Journal, Business Insider

President Joe Biden just inherited the @POTUS Twitter handle - but he didn't get it's more than 33 million followers

President-elect Joe Biden and President Donald Trump. Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images, Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images The millions of followers on the official presidential accounts, including @POTUS, didn't transfer to Biden on Wednesday. This will be the second time the presidential Twitter accounts will pass to another president. Trump inherited almost 14 million followers from Obama in 2017, and that count quickly increased after Inauguration Day. Visit Business Insi...
Tags: Facebook, Twitter, Politics, News, Obama, Washington Post, White House, US, Barack Obama, Trends, Social Media, Joe Biden, Biden, Donald Trump, Journal, Business Insider

Von der Leyen: big tech firms need to be reined in despite Trump's exit

Internet giants that spread hate speech and conspiracy theories should face ‘democratic limits’, says European commission presidentThe end of Donald Trump’s tenure in the White House was celebrated by the EU’s Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday, as she warned that the former US president’s rise highlighted the need to confront the internet giants who helped him spread “conspiracy theories and fake news”.The European commission president spoke of her relief at Trump’s departure, but warned that th...
Tags: Facebook, Twitter, Europe, Technology, Media, Social Networking, Internet, White House, US, Eu, World news, Newspapers & magazines, US news, Blogging, US politics, Digital Media

Joe Biden and his administration have officially taken over the presidential Twitter accounts, and he just posted his first tweet from @POTUS

Joe Biden (L), flanked by incoming US First Lady Jill Biden is sworn in as the 46th US President by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on January 20, 2021 ANDREW HARNIK/POOL/AFP via Getty Images The official presidential Twitter accounts have now passed from the Trump administration to the Biden administration. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were sworn in on Wednesday at the US Capitol. Twitter has said that the Biden administration will not inherit the millions...
Tags: Twitter, Politics, News, Supreme Court, US, Trends, Social Media, Joe Biden, United States, Silicon Valley, Biden, Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, Trump, John Roberts, HARRIS

I'm a lawyer who sued Alex Jones on behalf of the Sandy Hook families, leading to his deplatforming. The social media ban of Trump is troubling.

President Trump is seen at the White House on November 26, 2020. Erin Schaff - Pool/Getty Images Trump's ban from social media has troubling parallels with Alex Jones' ban in 2018. Public vulnerability to disinformation remains poorly understood, and our attempts to address the problem have been largely counterproductive. Before taking action, Congress should convene a panel to study solutions to disinformation which are compatible with a free and democratized internet. Mark D. Bankston i...
Tags: Twitter, Congress, White House, Germany, America, Trends, Silicon Valley, Jack Dorsey, Vanity Fair, Sandy Hook, Jones, Louise Mensch, Terms Of Service, Trump, Alex Jones, Brooke Binkowski

Former Trump campaign spokesman claims the only reason the president isn't denouncing the Capitol riot more is because Twitter and Facebook banned him

J. Hogan Gidley appearing on Fox News on Sunday. Fox News A former spokesman for President Donald Trump has claimed that the president cannot denounce the Capitol rioters because he no longer has a platform to. In the wake of the January 6 storming of the US Capitol, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and YouTube barred Trump for inciting violence. J. Hogan Gidley told Fox News on Sunday it was "disingenuous" of the media not to take this into account while criticizing the president's silence. P...
Tags: Facebook, Twitter, Politics, Nbc, Youtube, Senate, White House, US, Trends, Fbi, Gop, United States, House Of Representatives, News UK, Mitch McConnell, Fox News

Trump opponents celebrate as he moves out of White House

Watching Trump move, Twitter is moved to cheers. CNN's Jeanne Moos reports.
Tags: Twitter, News, White House, Cnn, Stories, Trump, Jeanne Moos

Gillmor Gang: Twitter+

The best thing about 2020 is we survived it. No need to say what the worst thing is, it’s hands down our collective stupidity in the choices we’ve made. That reality has forced us to refactor what we do moving forward. If we had correctly understood the massive changes ahead, we would not be wondering when we will return to the old, new or any normal. The normal is what got us here. Unlimited air travel, freedom to do whatever we wanted without regard to the impact it would have on anybody el...
Tags: TC, Facebook, Twitter, Video, Hollywood, White House, Tech, Georgia, Gang, Mitch McConnell, Gillmor Gang, Biden, Jack Dorsey, Steve Gillmor, Keith Teare, Frank Radice

A Texas real-estate agent who flew on a private jet to join the Capitol riot has asked Trump for a pardon, saying she was only following his orders

Jenna Ryan speaking to local news after returning to Texas from the Capitol riot. CBS 11 Texas real-estate agent Jenna Ryan is among more than 100 Trump supporters who have been arrested for taking part in the Capitol riot. Speaking to a local outlet after being detained by the FBI, Ryan said she's facing jail time and hopes President Donald Trump issues her a pardon.  "I feel like I was basically following my president. I was following what we were called to do. He asked us to fly there. ...
Tags: Twitter, Politics, Texas, Washington Post, Senate, Trends, Cnn, Fbi, Gop, United States, Washington Dc, House, News UK, Mitch McConnell, Cbs, Republican

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was suspended by Twitter for 12 hours not long after she told Trump supporters to 'mobilize' in a deleted tweet

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene seen here on the floor of the US House wearing a mask that incorrectly states "Trump won." Erin Scott-Pool/Getty Images Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia known for her promotion of the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory, was suspended by Twitter for 12 hours, her office said in a statement. Twitter confirmed to Insider that Greene had been temporarily "locked out" from the account, citing violations of its civic integrity policy. On Saturday, ...
Tags: Twitter, Politics, News, Congress, US, America, Trends, Georgia, Joe Biden, Atlantic, Gop, Washington Dc, House, US Senate, Fox News, Biden

The Trump ban across social media wasn't censorship - it was a series of editorial decisions by media companies that call themselves social platforms

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnav Becca Lewis is a PhD candidate in communication at Stanford University who researches online social movements and extremist groups. She says decrying Trump's bans on social media as censorship distracts from the real issue: that companies like Facebook and Twitter are really simply media companies who use editorial intervention and oversight. We've begun to see platforms make decisions that implicitly, if not explicitly, acknowledge this, sh...
Tags: Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter, Politics, Opinion, Censorship, Trends, Social Media, Jack Dorsey, Donald Trump, Stanford University, Napoli, Nordic, Trump, Facebook Twitter, Caplan

Republicans and conservatives are whining about being 'silenced,' but these complaints are completely detached from reality

An image on a monitor shows US President Donald Trump speaking during in a video posted on the White House Twitter feed, in the empty Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC on January 13, 2021 Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Getty Images Conservatives have complained about being "silenced" in the wake of Trump's boot from Twitter and the Parler ban. But Fox News, the highest rated news channel, is conservative and GOP officials and conservative pundits have a variety o...
Tags: Twitter, California, White House, US, America, Trends, Cnn, Fox, Gop, Washington Dc, House, Ted Cruz, Silicon Valley, Fox News, Republican Party, Msnbc

Revealed: Tory MPs and commentators who joined banned app Parler

Nadine Dorries, James Cleverly and Michael Gove joined the platform favoured by Trump supporters At least 14 Conservative MPs, including several ministers, cabinet minister Michael Gove and a number of prominent Tory commentators joined Parler, the social media platform favoured by the far right that was forced offline last week for hosting threats of violence and racist slurs.Parler was taken offline after Amazon Web Services pulled the plug last Sunday, saying violent posts and racist threats ...
Tags: Facebook, Twitter, Politics, Technology, Media, Social Networking, Internet, Social Media, Conservatives, UK News, Digital Media, Michael Gove, The far right, Nadine Dorries, Amazon Web Services, Katie Hopkins

US President-Elect Biden Starts New Twitter Account, Criticizes Policy on POTUS Account

"This will be the account for my official duties as President," tweeted U.S. president-elect Joe Biden on Thursday — but from a new account at @PresElectBiden (which will transition to @POTUS after Wednesday's inauguration). But Bloomberg reports Biden is still "clashing with the social media company over its decision to deny the incoming administration millions of existing White House followers." Biden's transition opened @PresElectBiden in order to start building a following for one of the o...
Tags: Twitter, Instagram, White House, US, Barack Obama, Tech, Bloomberg, Joe Biden, Biden, Donald Trump, Trump, Twitter Inc, Facebook Inc, Trump White House, Rob Flaherty, Biden White House

Christian evangelist, Franklin Graham, slams Republicans for taking '30 pieces of silver' from Nancy Pelosi in Trump impeachment 'betrayal'

Franklin Graham pre-records his invocation to the Republican National Convention at the Mellon Auditorium in Washington DC on August 27, 2020. Drew Angerer/Getty Images The controversial evangelist, Franklin Graham, has compared Republicans who voted for Trump's impeachment to Judas. In a Facebook post, Graham compared the 10 Republicans who voted for Trump's impeachment to Judas Iscariot, the notorious apostle who betrayed Jesus after being paid 30 pieces of silver.  It came the day after...
Tags: Facebook, Twitter, Politics, US, Trends, Wyoming, Washington Dc, New York Times, House Of Representatives, News UK, Jesus, Graham, Nancy Pelosi, North Carolina, Donald Trump, Trump

Twitter launched a @SecondGentleman account for Vice President-elect Kamala Harris' husband

Douglas Emhoff and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Win McNamee/Getty Images The husband of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, Douglas Emhoff, will soon use the newly-created Twitter handle @SecondGentleman. President-elect Biden encouraged people to follow the account Friday, when he also announced that he would take over the @POTUS handle.  A Second Gentleman" title is a historic first for US politics, a variant on the "First Lady" and "Second Lady" addresses for female spouses. Visi...
Tags: Twitter, Politics, Media, US, Trends, Joe Biden, News UK, Biden, Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, HARRIS, The Times of Israel, Douglas Emhoff, Emhoff, Mia Jankowicz, UK Weekend

EMA warns over doctored COVID-19 vaccine data hacked and leaked online

The European Medical Agency (EMA) has warned that information on COVID-19-related medicines and vaccines, which was stolen in a cyber attack last December and leaked online earlier this week, includes correspondence that’s been manipulated prior to publication “in a way which could undermine trust in vaccines”. It’s not clear exactly how the information — which includes schematics of drug structures and correspondence relating to evaluation processes for COVID-19 vaccines — has been doctored. We...
Tags: Security, Facebook, Twitter, Europe, UK, Microsoft, North Korea, White House, China, Russia, US, Tech, Eu, Hack, Reddit, European Commission

Twitter Will Transfer White House Accounts From Trump to Biden ‘in Real Time’

Twitter said the official White House accounts, including @POTUS, will change hands in “real time” on Inauguration Day next week when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are sworn into office. As President-elect Biden takes the oath in at noon ET on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, Twitter will facilitate the transfer of institutional White House Twitter […]
Tags: Twitter, News, White House, Joe Biden, Biden, Kamala Harris, Trump, Inauguration, White House Twitter

From cutting all ties with Trump to pulling political donations, here's how corporate America has responded to the Capitol insurrection

The US Capitol during riots on January 6. REUTERS/Leah Millis During the US Capitol insurrection, businesses condemned the rioters. In the days after, they swapped words for concrete action. Some have cut off all political funding, others have severed ties with President Donald Trump. Here's how social-media giants, banks, retailers, and other firms have reacted. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Since rioters stormed the US Capitol on January 6 in a desperate bid to over...
Tags: Google, Amazon, Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter, Business, Politics, White House, US, America, Trends, Social Media, Joe Biden, New Jersey, Pga, Reddit

Banning Trump from Twitter sets a 'dangerous' precedent, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey says

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, left, and President Donald Trump, right. Rolf Vennenbernd/picture alliance via Getty Images; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images On Friday, January 8, Twitter moved to indefinitely suspend Trump from the platform — a move that Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said, "sets a precedent I feel is dangerous," in a series of tweets. The ban came after a mob of pro-Trump rioters stormed the US Capitol building and broke in. During the attack, President Trump tweeted a video of support t...
Tags: Twitter, Politics, Instagram, White House, US, Trends, Social Media, Larry Ellison, Freedom Of Speech, Jack Dorsey, Donald Trump, Dorsey, Terms Of Service, Trump, Capitol, Twitter Twitter

Snapchat will permanently ban Trump when he leaves office on January 20

US President Donald Trump. Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images Snap Inc. will permanently ban President Donald Trump from Snapchat when he leaves office on January 20. The company had suspended Trump's account after a pro-Trump mob stormed the US Capitol.    Snap cited Trump's efforts to spread "misinformation, hate speech, and incite violence." Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Snap will permanently ban President Donald Trump when he leaves office on January 20, sayi...
Tags: Facebook, Twitter, White House, US, America, Trends, Tech, Joe Biden, Snapchat, Evan Spiegel, Donald Trump, Snap, Trump, Capitol, America Trump, Saul Loeb

Some Thoughts On Twitter Pulling The Plug On Trump's Account (techdirt)

Background First of all, corporations enjoy First Amendment protections, among other constitutional protections. Although some of my friends decry that proposition, given the Supreme Court's current composition, that is not going to change during my lifetime. And the First Amendment protects the right to refuse to associate with speech one does not like. There is only so much that legislation could do to prevent companies like Twitter from controlling the speech that they allow. Second, wit...
Tags: Google, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, News, Supreme Court, Congress, Senate, White House, Georgia, Washington Dc, Usps, Ohio, Dmca, Capitol Hill, Trump

Jack Dorsey breaks his silence on Twitter's decision to ban Trump after Capitol riots

Burhaan Kinu/Hindustan Times via Getty Images Jack Dorsey broke his silence Wednesday on Twitter's decision to permanently ban President Donald Trump. Dorsey called it "the right decision for Twitter" amid "an extraordinary and untenable" circumstances, but said a ban was a "failure of ours ultimately to promote healthy conversation" and that could set a "dangerous" precedent. In the series of tweets, Dorsey also advocated for more open and decentralized approaches to developing social me...
Tags: Amazon, Twitter, Politics, News, US, Trends, Social Media, House Of Representatives, Jack Dorsey, Donald Trump, Dorsey, Trump, Capitol, Twitter Facebook, Apple Google, US Capitol

Jack Dorsey: “I do not celebrate” Trump’s Twitter ban

Just a few days ago, Twitter banned outgoing President Donald Trump, taking away his favorite distraction. While many welcomed the move as a preventative step for future violence following the unprecedented attack on the US Capitol, others condemned it as an overreach. Not all of the latter were necessarily Trump supporters either; German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the move “problematic,” a sentiment shared by some who worry about the power held by major social media companies. The fact tha...
Tags: Startups, Twitter, Politics, Angela Merkel, Snapchat, Jack Dorsey, Donald Trump, Trump, US Capitol, Facebook Instagram YouTube

Parler claims in antitrust lawsuit that Amazon said it was 'definitely in this journey' with the controversial social media platform until Capitol riots

Parler CEO John Matze. Fox News Parler claimed in a court filing Wednesday that Amazon said it was "definitely in this journey with" the social media company as it encountered abuse reports. Parler alleged that Amazon hadn't raised concerns about Parler's content moderation system until January 8, disputing Amazon's claims that it had issued repeated warnings since mid-November. Parler sued Amazon earlier this week, alleging it unlawfully broke its contract with Parler and violated antitru...
Tags: Amazon, Twitter, Politics, News, Enterprise, Trends, Markets, Lawsuits, Antitrust, Aws, Silicon Valley, Free Speech, Amazon Web Services, Trump, Capitol, US Capitol

Twitter says it has reversed its 'incorrect' decision to lock Rep. Lauren Boebert's account

Rep. Lauren Boebert on the House steps of the Capitol on Monday, January 4, 2021. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images Twitter said it has reversed its decision to lock the account of Rep. Lauren Boebert, though a company spokesperson declined to clarify which tweet prompted the action. The move comes after the Republican congresswoman faced criticism for tweeting Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's location during the US Capitol siege. Twitter has permanently suspended Presiden...
Tags: Facebook, Twitter, New York Post, Politics, News, Congress, Colorado, Trends, Social Media, Georgia, Joe Biden, Gop, House, Nancy Pelosi, Jack Dorsey, Trump