I’ve been looking at who the new @whitehouse accounts follow & have concluded that @TwitterGov has made a hash of how it’s labeling official US government accounts & campaign accounts.

Some are labeled, some are @verified, & some are neither.

I’ll offer examples.
The @WHCOVIDResponse @WHCOS @AmbRice46 @JOD46 are all US government accounts, but are not labeled. @LaCasaBlanca is.

@flotus has the label, but @SecondGentleman does not.

@usagov has a label, but @usaid @cbp @stevefda do not.
I haven’t audited all 538 x 2 yet, but @verified US Senator or Representatives accounts are not labeled as US government accounts.

Neither @joebiden nor @kamalaharris or @aoc or @HillaryClinton or @barackobama are labeled as campaign accounts, but @IlhanMN & @AyannaPressley are.
Official city or state government accounts like @SheriffSF or @CA_OSG are @verified, but not labeled.

@nasa is a US government account, but not labeled, as with @NavBaseSD (which isn’t @verified in 2021, despite being a @USNavy account.)
The most unusual @twitter history of a US government official I found today may be that of @BrianCDeese, who used @DeeseOMB & @Deese44 & now has a 3rd account at @BrianDeeseNEC, separating his personal account from a @whitehouse account that will be archived someday at @-46.
In 2021, @twitter should standardize how it labels accounts for agencies, elected officials, & politicians in each country it operates in as federal, state, & city government, campaign, or @verified public figure accounts.

It’s possible @TwitterGov will need to build a registry.
It may be optimal if @twitter built upon & supported the work of @VotingInfo & the @Google Civic Information API in the USA, so all social media platforms can use a open government database to label @verified official accounts — & it should not neglect doing this in other nations

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More from @digiphile

24 Jan
What’s wrong @MeetThePress?
Who aired a clip of @GovRonDeSantis saying he’d “seen the stuff Biden is putting out, that he’s going to create these FEMA camps or whatever, & that’s not necessary for Florida” without first telling @NBCNews viewers that’s a conspiratorial falsehood? Image
The host, @chucktodd, said @POTUS Biden faces a challenges in making Republican governors partners in COVID response, & framed the clip as an example of “some Trump allies who are dismissive of his plans.”

That’s inaccurate: the challenge is Trump & allies will lie & fear-monger
After hosting a show in disinformation, @MeetThePress is still not adjusting its own editorial practices to the alternative reality in which official lies have disinformed people in post-truth America & stopped airing them or officials without inoculating viewers with #FactsFirst
Read 7 tweets
22 Jan
Dear @WHCommsDir: please swap out the static photo of @POTUS on the @WhiteHouse homepage linked to nowhere, & put a call to serve there. Maybe link to @USAJOBS & serve.gov & ways Americans can scrub in? Add a blog, & narrate the work. Show us how we can help heal. Image
Link to “Get Involved” but give people more to do than apply to work or sign up for email:
whitehouse.gov/get-involved/
Tap into the federal workforce, & ask them what they would do to serve & heal our country: obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/node/11060
Try epetitions again, but commit to act on them. ImageImage
Dear @WHCommsDir:
Please
1) Share each statement at @POTUS
2) Share every EO at @WhiteHouse
3) Link to plaintext of every EO/memo wh.gov shared on social media
whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/
4) Add text annotations of every image of text on social media

#a11y #opengov ImageImageImage
Read 5 tweets
21 Jan
New @PressSec is about to host a press briefing at 4 PM ET. In keeping with their commitments to transparency, I hope @jrpsaki & staff:
-Tweet stream from @WhiteHouse:

-Fix /live
-Tweet link to transcript & archived video after each one
-Tweet every EO Image
Hot mic, White House press corps
Dr. Fauci is about to speak on the state of pandemic & vaccines & take questions.

I could get used to this.
Read 10 tweets
21 Jan
This is unethical: @AjitPai dropped @FCC from his name, kept his @verified US government account, & claimed it’s personal.

Pai is wrong on principle & precedent: he *had FCC in his name*, & used it for public business.

Compare to @TomWheelerFCC, who signed off & used @tewheels ImageImageImage
The Wild West of federal social media needs to come to an end. @AjitPai should not have left service with access to a US government asset that grew in value over time & use it personally. (@AmbNikkiHaley couldn’t!) @FCCChair & Speaker institutional accounts should be like @POTUS.
This is why I have advised journalists for a decade not to put their media organizations in their handles (@-johndoeAP etc) because an employer might argue it’s an asset.

it’s even clearer in .gov with @FCC in the handle; claiming it’s personal now doesn’t pass the smell test.
Read 8 tweets
19 Jan
Immoral & uncommonly bad sense: a pandemic is a national security threat, & maintaining force readiness & cohesion is strategic. Whomever ordered & signed off on this should be relieved.

I saw a lot of @SecretService & @CapitolPolice without masks, too; T-28 hours until change
There will literally be a symbolic change: the @NatlParkService will have to update its signage to include masks.
The glaring omission has been staring at me for a year at monuments & agencies, a void in public health messaging showing the impact of toxic denialism from the top. ImageImage
Contrast how federal government signage with public health guidance by @_DCHealth on a school playground & you can see the delta.

This is all basic hygiene, as is the common sense of avoiding super-spreader events — AKA unmasked crowds in poorly ventilated buildings.

And yet. Image
Read 4 tweets
7 Jan
Watching President-Elect @JoeBiden on @CSPAN as he announce his nominees to lead @TheJusticeDept:
He says
-will focus on judiciary & @TheJusticeDept
-will be time to ask about 25th Amendment
-yesterday was one of darkest days in the history of our nation
Biden: An unprecedented assault on our democracy.
An assault literally on the citadel of liberty: the @USCapitol itself.
An assault on the rule of law.
On the most sacred of American undertakings: ratifying the will of the people in choosing the leadership of their government.
Biden: All of us here grieve the loss of life.
Grieve the desecration of the People's House.
But what we witnessed yesterday was not dissent, not disorder.
It was not a protest.
It was chaos.
They weren't protestors.
They were a riotous mob.
Insurrectionists.
Domestic terrorists.
Read 4 tweets

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