There's a Good Reason People Are Noticing Hillary Clinton's New Profile Picture — It Has as Much to Do With the Old Photo as the New One

On Sunday, Hillary Clinton changed her profile picture on Twitter, replacing the iconic image of her wearing sunglasses and reading her Blackberry with a blank avatar outline.

The question: why?

Hillary Clinton changed her Twitter profile picture Sunday from the iconic photo on the left to the "Not There" avatar on the right. (Images via Twitter)

The official explanation, the former secretary of state and first lady tweeted, was that she wanted to "raise awareness on how far we've come in reaching equal rights for women & girls worldwide" with the Clinton Foundation's "Not There" avatar — Sunday is International Women's Day.

See my new profile pic to raise awareness on how far we've come in reaching equal rights for women & girls worldwide. https://t.co/MzqVBq6FTL

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) March 8, 2015

But as Mediaite noted, there could be another reason behind the switch.

Clinton is being scrutinized for her use of a personal email to conduct State Department business during her secretary of state tenure, and Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-South Carolina) pointed out on Sunday morning that her iconic Blackberry-holding photo may in fact show her typing an illicit email.

"There are gaps of months and months and months,” Gowdy said on "Face the Nation." "If you think to that iconic picture of her on a C-17 flying to Libya, sunglasses on, she has her handheld device in her hand — we have no e-mails from that day. In fact we have no e-mails from that trip."

Clinton's Twitter profile picture was changed Sunday afternoon after she announced Saturday she'd swap the photo.

Conservative commentators were quick to note the "clever" convenience of the whole situation.

@MarcACaputo Clever way for Hillary Clinton to disappear that politically inconvenient, now not so cool photo of her holding Blackberry.

— Kristinn Taylor (@KristinnFR) March 7, 2015

However Hillary's handlers may have intended it, this has taken on an unwittingly hilarious secondary meaning. pic.twitter.com/Owl1kIm9Q2

— Jeff B@AoSHQDD (@EsotericCD) March 8, 2015

As of early Sunday afternoon, Clinton's Twitter background photo was still the Blackberry shot.

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Follow Zach Noble (@thezachnoble) on Twitter