Joe Biden Will Not Use Social Media In ‘Abusive’ Or ‘Psychotic’ Manner, Adviser Claims
An adviser for President Joe Biden told The Atlantic White House reporter Peter Nicholas that the new head of state would not be using social media platforms in the same manner as his predecessor.
“A Biden transition adviser told me that the new president would not use social media as an ‘abusive, psychotic mechanism to display insecurity and grievances,'” Nicholas wrote.
According to CNN, Trump used his personal Twitter account to viciously attack critics, make policy announcements, and spread misinformation. After the storming of the U.S. Capitol earlier this month that Trump has been accused of inciting, Twitter permanently suspended his personal account.
The former president received a great deal of criticism for the handling of his social media presence. In a piece for Inside Higher Ed, Maurice Hall noted much of the criticism from mainstream networks and publications argued Trump should use the “expected outlets for presidential communication” and stop using Twitter in the manner he did for the duration of his time in the White House.
Hall argued Trump’s use of Twitter allowed him to control the daily news cycle, which in turn took power away from traditional newsrooms.
“He is controlling the news cycle in a way we have never seen before,” he wrote in 2018.
Others were more critical. In the annual Wired list of the “Most Dangerous People on the Internet,” Trump topped his competition for the sixth year in a row. The outlet claimed the former U.S. leader was the “most powerful source of disinformation” in the world and the “internet’s most toxic cyberbully.”
Trump was previously accused of sharing classified information on Twitter after he suggested that Iran or its proxies was planning an attack on United States troops and interests in Iraq.
As reported by CNN, Biden took control of the official government social media accounts on Wednesday, including @POTUS on Twitter.
“The transfer of these official accounts, which include not just those representing Biden and the White House but nearly every arm of government, has emerged as an important aspect of the broader transition of power, especially after Twitter became the favored online platform of former President Donald Trump,” the publication wrote.
As noted by CNN, Biden did not inherit the followers of each federal account. Conversely, Trump inherited the followers that were acquired during Barack Obama’s administration. According to the Biden camp, the decision to forgo follower inheritance “unnecessarily politicizes” what should be a routine transfer of social media accounts used for government communication.
