A hot potato: Meta has addressed complaints from users of Facebook, Instagram, and Threads who were surprised to find themselves following Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and First Lady Melania Trump without their consent. Additionally, there have been reports of Democratic content being obscured. Some attribute this to Meta and CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s recent political repositioning, a claim the company refutes.
Meta’s communication director, Andy Stone, addressed the issue on Threads and X. He clarified that users were not automatically made followers of official accounts tied to the President, Vice President, or First Lady.
Stone explained that these accounts are managed by the White House, resulting in content changes when a new administration takes over, though followers remain unchanged. This procedure was similarly executed during the previous presidential transition.
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.
– Andy Stone (@andymstone) January 22, 2025
Nevertheless, many replies express skepticism towards Stone’s justification. Users claim they never chose to follow Biden, Trump, or any political accounts yet found themselves automatically following the POTUS, VPOTUS, and FLOTUS accounts.
Some users also allege that after unexpectedly following Trump, they are unable to unfollow him. Stone noted that it might take time for follow and unfollow requests to process as the White House accounts transition between administrations.
It is also observed that when a leader exits office, Meta generates archived POTUS accounts, to which followers are automatically subscribed. Some users assert they involuntarily began following Trump, Vance, and Melania Trump accounts during this process.
Accusations of Meta’s political bias have also emerged on Instagram. Users report receiving messages such as “We’ve hidden these results” and “Results for the term you searched for may contain sensitive content” when searching hashtags like #Democrat or #Democrats. Meta attributed this to a technical issue affecting various hashtags, including those linked to the Republican Party.
There’s an issue affecting people’s ability to search for a number of different hashtags on Instagram – not just those on the left. We’re working quickly to resolve this. https://t.co/S3OywJVRZX
– Andy Stone (@andymstone) January 21, 2025
Separate reports indicate an increase in political content appearing in feeds owing to changes announced by Zuckerberg at the start of January. The CEO also suspended the fact-checking program and minimised censorship on Meta’s platforms. He later appeared on the Joe Rogan podcast, suggesting companies need more “masculine energy,” which prompted a lawyer to drop Meta as a client in a copyright case, citing Zuckerberg’s “toxic masculinity and neo-Nazi madness.”
