White House Lifts Ban on Photos, Social Media Posts

After 40 years of surreptitiously snapping photos of the White House during public tours, people can now do it out in the open.

The White House has lifted its ban on taking photos during tours of the Presidential mansion. Not only that, but it’s now encouraging people to do so and to share the photos across social media using the #WhiteHouseTour hashtag.

“Big news! Starting today, we’re lifting the ban on cameras and photos on the White House public tour. Visitors are now able to take photos and keep those memories for a lifetime!” said First Lady Michelle Obama in an Instagram post.

Big news! Starting today, we’re lifting the ban on cameras and photos on the @WhiteHouse public tour. Visitors are now able to take photos and keep those memories for a lifetime! 📷 To learn how to schedule a tour with your friends and family, visit whitehouse.gov.

A video posted by First Lady Michelle Obama (@michelleobama) on Jul 1, 2015 at 4:47am PDT

So, you can now take selfies at the White House. Just don’t bring your selfie stick, however. That’s still banned. Tripods, videos cameras, and flash photography are also banned.

Last year, the White House got pretty pissed at Samsung and Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz when the selfie he snapped with President Obama turned out to be a marketing ploy.

Image via David Ortiz, Twitter