As President Donald Trump marked his first full day as leader of the free world, there appeared to be one transfer of power that was not executed as peacefully as the rest—the transition of the verified presidential Twitter account.
After the inauguration, some users parted ways with @POTUS on the social network once it changed hands from former president Barack Obama to Trump.
However, for reasons unexplained, those same users automatically re-followed the presidential account without their permission. More than a few irate users who noticed the glitch were quick to bring it to the attention of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
In a series of Tweets on Saturday, Dorsey acknowledged "mistakes" in the process that caused users who unfollowed the POTUS account to follow it without opting to do so, outlining that it was a glitch in the system. Dorsey added that about half a million users were affected, in addition to a few government-run Twitter accounts.
On Friday after the inauguration, Trump—a prolific and unrepentant Twitter user—took ownership of the verified POTUS account, which now has more than 14 million followers.
Still, he continued to send tweets from the personal account that has served as both a fount of his personal rebukes, and his thoughts on policy matters. It's unclear whether Trump will retire or curtail his use of his @realDonaldTrump account.