PIERRE — State-affiliated social media accounts for South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem went dark over Independence Day.

Contributed

With more than 750,000 combined X followers and Facebook likes, Noem’s official social media accounts appear to no longer be in operation. The change was first noticed by social media users in the morning hours of Thursday, July 4.

“So when did Gov Noem delete her official Governor Kristi Noem fb page???????” asked one user on July 4 in Sioux Falls Rants and Raves, a private Facebook group with nearly 25,000 members.

On X,

the site no longer displays

her photo, bio or an archive of prior posts, simply stating: “Something went wrong.” Meanwhile, on Facebook,

links to her account

say the content is unavailable.

Her personal X account, @KristiNoem, was still active as of Friday morning, as was her personal Facebook page.

It’s unclear why the changes to Noem’s state-affiliated accounts were initiated.

In an email, Noem spokesman Ian Fury said: “For official updates from the Governor’s Office, including press releases, follow @GovNoemOffice on X.”

Fury did not elaborate on the circumstances for the change and did not indicate whether Noem intended to use any other social media platforms for updates on state business.

As of midday Friday, the new X account had just a dozen followers, including Rep. Tony Venhuizen, R-Sioux Falls.

Venhuizen said he wasn’t sure why Noem did away with the other accounts, but said having multiple accounts is typical.

“That’s what Gov. [Dennis] Daugaard did, it’s what Gov. Noem has done, it’s what our entire congressional delegation does,” he said. “It’s a pretty standard thing.”

He also offered some explanation as to why having multiple accounts is necessary.

“On a political or personal account, you can offer an opinion or promote campaign events, whereas on the official account, you’re going to be providing information about the action of state government, disaster response and any other number of things,” Venhuizen explained. “Generally, it’s a good idea to separate those.”

Noem’s new account had 11 posts as of midday Friday, all of which were links to press releases on South Dakota’s official website.

A South Dakota native, Hunter joined Forum Communications as a reporter for the Mitchell (S.D.) Republic in June 2021 and now works as a digital reporter for Sioux Falls Live, with a primary focus on crime in Sioux Falls and government in Lincoln County.