Nikki Haley resets Twitter account, keeps Jerusalem photo

The former U.N. ambassador was forced to wipe her account clean after using it for business and personal tweets.

JANUARY 3, 2019 17:34

Nikki Haley speaks during a news conference at U.N. headquarters in Manhattan, New York, U.S., September 20, 2018 (photo credit: JEENAH MOON/REUTERS) — Nikki Haley speaks during a news conference at U.N. headquarters in Manhattan, New York, U.S., September 20, 2018

(photo credit: JEENAH MOON/REUTERS)

As of January 1, former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley was required to wipe clean her personal Twitter account and start fresh.

While she didn't keep her 1.7 million Twitter followers, she did keep her old Twitter banner: a photo of her and a group of religious young women taken during a trip to Jerusalem in June 2017. That November, Haley made the image her "banner" photo on both Twitter and Facebook, and has kept them that way ever since.

Haley was sworn in as the UN ambassador in January 2017, and announced in October that she would be resigning, effective December 31, 2018. Until the end of 2018, Haley had been using one Twitter account to conduct both official and unofficial business. That move had been criticized by officials in the past for blurring the lines between business and personal. In June 2017, according to Politico, Haley was forced by The Office of Special Counsel to delete a tweet endorsing a congressional candidate, which is not allowed from an official State Department account. Haley's decision to not create a separate UN account led her to have to start fresh upon exiting the role.

"Due to State Dept rules that were changed by the outgoing administration, I have had to clear my personal Twitter account that I have had for years," she tweeted in her first missive from the reset account. "The followers, the history, the pictures, and all other content. Please refollow and retweet this to your friends. Here’s to 2019!"

Due to State Dept rules that were changed by the outgoing administration, I have had to clear my personal Twitter account that I have had for years. The followers, the history, the pictures, and all other content. Please refollow and retweet this to your friends. Here’s to 2019!
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) January 1, 2019

When Haley departed office at the end of December, all of her tweets until that point were archived under the handle @AmbNikkiHaley - including those from before her time at the UN. The handle @NikkiHaley was wiped clean, but is slowly climbing back up to her former popularity: As of Thursday she had more than 275,000 followers.