With a new administration taking office, many Facebook and Instagram users were left confused after discovering they were following President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance. The episode has Meta denying any efforts to force users to follow or like the pages of the new president and vice president.
As is standard protocol when a new administration takes office, the Trump team gained control of the accounts for the White House, president, vice president, first lady and second lady on social media.
If users liked those pages under Presidents Barack Obama, Donald Trump or Joe Biden, those likes and follows carried over to the new administration.
However, some users on social media said they unfollowed the accounts, only to be re-following them shortly thereafter.
In response, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said, “This is the same procedure we followed during the last presidential transition. It may take some time for follow and unfollow requests to go through as these accounts change hands.”
The scrutiny on Meta comes just a few weeks after the company dropped its fact-checking and loosened its moderation guidelines on what it describes as hateful conduct.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has built closer ties with Trump in recent months. Zuckerberg attended Trump’s inauguration and Meta also donated $1 million to the president’s inaugural fund.
