Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley launched a new Twitter account on Tuesday after being forced to get rid of her old one due to rules established by former President Barack Obama‘s administration.
“Due to State Dept rules that were changed by the outgoing administration, I have had to clear my personal Twitter account that I have had for years. The followers, the history, the pictures, and all other content. Please refollow and retweet this to your friends. Here’s to 2019!” Haley wrote on New Year’s Day.
Due to State Dept rules that were changed by the outgoing administration, I have had to clear my personal Twitter account that I have had for years. The followers, the history, the pictures, and all other content. Please refollow and retweet this to your friends. Here’s to 2019!
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) January 1, 2019
The rules, as BuzzFeed News reported in 2017, are meant to stop political appointees from amassing a large following on social media and taking it with them once they leave public office.
The former ambassador’s old Twitter account, which had 1.67 million followers, is still online and links to her new personal account. Eric Columbus, a former official in Obama’s administration, noted on Tuesday that the old account is still available and that Haley only needed to “relinquish control of it for archiving.”
Perhaps Haley caused the confusion by saying she had to “clear” her old account rather than just relinquish control of it for archiving. Indeed, the @AmbNikkiHaley is still there with a note that she can now be found elsewhere.
— Eric Columbus (@EricColumbus) January 2, 2019
The former South Carolina governor has been steadily tweeting on the new account since Tuesday, retweeting several people who have called for people to refollow her.
As of Wednesday morning, Haley’s new account had 194,000 followers as many conservative personalities online highlighted the new account’s existence.
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