With Trump, Twitter transition stirs confusion

The handoff of federal agencies' social media accounts to the Trump administration is sparking controversy and complicating the transition.

Trump's is the first administration to take power in the Twitter age. That’s led to confusion about the rules for handing off government accounts and oversight. Twitter laid out plans for seamlessly transferring the @POTUS account from former President Obama to President Trump — and other social media platforms, including Instagram and Facebook, did the same. But for many other government agencies, there were no plans in place for how to manage communications on social media as a new president took power. Obama administration officials say that's because they largely left agencies to handle their own accounts free of political influence from the White House. They say they didn't anticipate that the next administration would want tighter controls on social media.