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Snap! White House Lifts Ban on Photos, Social Media During Tours

For the first time in 40 years, visitors to the White House can take pictures and post to social media during public tours of "the nation's house."
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By Halimah Abdullah

For the first time in 40 years, visitors to the White House can take pictures and use social media during public tours of "the nation's house."

But they'll still have to leave their selfie sticks at home.

First Lady Michelle Obama made the announcement in an Instagram video showing her tearing the "no photos or social media allowed" sign in half.

https://www.instagram.com/p/4l6aKJvZHj

In making the announcement, the White House said, "Visitors are also encouraged to share their experience using the hashtag #WhiteHouseTour."

Video cameras — including any action camcorders, cameras with detachable lenses, tablets, tripods, monopods and camera sticks — are still banned.

Halimah Abdullah

Halimah Abdullah is a digital editor and writer for NBC News and is responsible for reporting, writing, editing and web producing federal policy news for NBCNews.com. Prior to joining the site in April 2015, Abdullah worked at CNN.com, where she reported, edited and web produced stories on federal politics and policy. In that role, Abdullah was responsible for helping cover Congress, the White House, federal agencies, and national political races.

A veteran politics and policy reporter and editor, Abdullah has worked for Bloomberg Government, McClatchy Newspapers' Washington Bureau, the Memphis Commercial Appeal, Newsday, and the Dallas Morning News. Her work has also appeared in the New York Times and TODAY.com, among other publications. Her journalism and creative writing have won awards, been published in several anthologies, and earned her invitations to attend several writing colonies. Abdullah is also a writing professor who has taught at the University of Maryland and the University of the District of Columbia and John Jay College and Brooklyn College in New York.

Abdullah lives in the Washington D.C. metro area.