An Interior Department staffer's embarrassingly critical retweets during President Donald Trump's inauguration reportedly triggered an indefinite shutdown of the agency's Twitter accounts.
"All bureaus and the department have been directed by incoming administration to shut down Twitter platforms immediately until further notice," demanded an email circulated to Park Service workers Friday afternoon, The Washington Post reported.
The department has dozens of official Twitter accounts at its various offices and 10 bureaus – including the Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Geological Survey, the Post noted.
The retweets that triggered the "urgent directive" noted the relatively small inaugural crowd at the Trump swearing-in compared with President Barack Obama's inauguration in 2009, and pointed out omissions of policy areas on the new White House website.
The Post reported an unnamed government official said the agency is investigating whether the retweets were purposeful, "errant" or "whether we’ve been hacked."
"They were not reflective of Park Service policy," the official told the Post.
The ban was first reported by Gizmodo.
The Post noted the agency is temporarily being headed by a team of career civil servants while the Senate considers Trump's nominee for Interior secretary, Montana GOP Rep. Ryan Zinke.
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