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(L-R) Priscilla Chan, CEO of Meta and Facebook Mark Zuckerberg, and Lauren Sanchez attend the inauguration ceremony before Donald Trump is sworn in as the 47th US President in the US Capitol Rotunda in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025.
Saul Loeb | Afp | Getty Images
Instagram users are complaining this week that they're being forced by Meta to follow President Donald Trump's social media accounts without their consent.
In a Threads post on Wednesday, a Meta representative said users are seeing posts from @POTUS, @VP and @FLOTUS because those accounts are handed off when a presidential transition occurs in the U.S.
"People were not made to automatically follow any of the official Facebook or Instagram accounts for the President, Vice President or First Lady," wrote Andy Stone, a spokesperson for Meta. "Those accounts are managed by the White House so with a new administration, the content on those Pages changes."
Users who previously followed the accounts continue to follow them, as well as the former administration's archive accounts, when the transition of power occurs, Meta confirmed in an email. That includes the account for @WhiteHouse.
Trump's inauguration on Monday marked the third handoff from one administration to the next. The Obama administration, which created many of the accounts that are used today, addressed the matter in a blog post ahead of the 2016 election, which Trump also won.
"On Instagram and Facebook, the incoming White House will gain access to the White House username, URL, and retain the followers, but will start with no content on the timeline," the Obama administration wrote. "An archive of White House content that was posted to the Obama White House Instagram and Facebook will continue to be accessible to the public at Instagram.com/ObamaWhiteHouse and Facebook.com/ObamaWhiteHouse."
The Obama administration added that all posts and materials created by the accounts would be preserved with the National Archives and Records Administration and that new accounts would also be created to preserve the content.
Posts from the accounts previously used by former President Joe Biden, former Vice President Kamala Harris and former First Lady Jill Biden have moved to @potus46archive, @vp46archive and @fotus46archive, respectively.
Political chatter has picked up on Meta's platforms following a series of moves taken by CEO Mark Zuckerberg that appeared to be aimed at appeasing President Trump.
Zuckerberg donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration and attended the event in Washington D.C., even co-hosting a celebratory reception.
Zuckerberg this month announced several policy changes for Meta, including eliminating third-party fact checking and ending the company's diversity, equity and inclusion program. The company also appointed Joel Kaplan, a former Republican White House staffer, as its new policy chief, and Zuckerberg, in an appearance on Joe Rogan's podcast, touted the benefits of masculinity.
"I think having a culture that celebrates the aggression a bit more has its own merits," Zuckerberg said on the podcast.
English (US)