The Interior Department ended its self-imposed Twitter ban Saturday after sharing a pair of posts during Friday's inauguration that appeared unsympathetic to President Donald Trump.
The National Park Service's retweets were captured by New York Times reporter Binyamin Appelbaum.
One post was Appelbaum's tweet comparing photos of Trump's inauguration to President Barack Obama's in 2009. The second tweet was from Anne Trumble, who charged that the White House.gov pages on civil rights, climate change, and immigration had been "scrubbed clean."
Gizmodo reported Friday night that the National Parks Service was ordered by its Washington support office through an internal email to "cease use of government Twitter accounts until further notice."
"In summary, this Twitter stand down means we will cease use of Twitter immediately," stated the National Parks Service email, according to Gizmodo. "However, there is no need to suspend or delete government accounts until directed. This does not affect use of other approved social media platforms. We expect further guidance to come next week and we will share accordingly."
The National Parks Service, which shared the tweets, issued an apology on the social media platform Saturday.
The Washington Post reported that the Interior Department has numerous official Twitter accounts at its multiple offices and 10 bureaus, which include the Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Geological Survey.
National Park Service spokesman Thomas Crosson said in an email, according to the Post, that the shared Twitter posts in question were "inconsistent with the agency's approach to engaging the public through social media.
"The Department of Interior's communications team determined that it was important to stand down Twitter activity across the Department temporarily, except in the case of public safety. Now that social media guidance has been clarified, the Department and its bureaus should resume Twitter engagement as normal this weekend," he continued.
Trump's nominee to lead to Interior, Montana U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, is awaiting confirmation.
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