Thread by @digiphile

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