Nov 20, 2023 - Technology

White House launches Threads accounts

Maria Curi

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

The White House on Monday launched Threads accounts for President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Why it matters: The accounts could help put Threads on the map and boost its legitimacy as the platform becomes a more viable alternative to X, formerly Twitter.

Threads, owned by Meta, garnered millions of users after making Instagram accounts easy to transfer over.
Although X continues to dominate as a forum for public discourse, it's increasingly coming under fire for its failure to moderate content deemed harmful by public and private sector players alike.

What's happening: The Biden administration is turning to more social media platforms to communicate with Americans about its accomplishments ahead of a presidential election.

First lady Jill Biden, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, various accounts for the White House and its Spanish language version -- La Casa Blanca -- will all have Threads accounts.

What they're saying: White House spokesperson Robyn Patterson told Axios the move is not related to X: "We still continue using X and there are no plans to change our usage of X."

Yes, but: The White House's move will still be relevant to X for the people turned off by Elon Musk's handling of the platform.

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White House launches Threads accounts

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