Whenever you leave a job, you largely surrender your connection with the organization or company you worked for, but the reputational tie can often linger on -- for better or worse.
Some former White House staffers feel their reputation has taken a hit this week, after the current presidential administration updated the official White House profile picture on LinkedIn to a photo of President Donald Trump. Now, in the Experience section on the LinkedIn profiles of everyone who has ever worked for the White House, it looks as though they were employees of Trump, regardless of which previous president they actually worked for.
One former staffer, Johanna Maska, who worked as director of press advance for President Barack Obama, posted on LinkedIn that she believed the White House had broken the platform's rules by changing the icon, as it's not an accurate representation of the institution of the presidency.Â
But according to a LinkedIn spokesperson, the White House hasn't broken any rules. "LinkedIn company pages can update logos and photos associated with their own accounts," they said.
For Maska and her fellow former staffers, the disappearance of the official White House emblem from their profiles is less than ideal. "Lots of alumni have texted equally frustrated," she said in a conversation with CNET. Underneath her post are comments from other former staffers who worked for both Democrat and Republican presidents agreeing with her point about misrepresentation.
Maska added that she hoped it was a mistake on behalf of the White House. "I'm quite sure President Trump wouldn't want to claim all of us from previous administrations," she said.
But based on the White House's reaction, the switch is not a mistake at all. In response to our request for comment, the White House press team asked us to link to an X post quoting a former staffer annoyed that the change made it appear as though he'd worked for Trump, while saying: "That's the whole point, dummy. Trolololololol."
It's unclear what Microsoft, LinkedIn's parent company, might think of the brouhaha. Microsoft didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. But since Trump returned to office in January, America's tech companies have been cozy with the president. CEO Satya Nadella is one of several tech leaders Trump is hosting at the White House on Thursday.
That would provide an opportunity to discuss the matter and whether the Trump administration is trolling those who worked for his predecessors.
"I'm not waiting with bated breath for his respect," Maska said. "I really hope the current White House team has better things to do than troll their fellow Americans."