Meta has denied claims circulating on social media that Facebook and Instagram users were forced to follow President Donald Trump’s official accounts.
Some users of Facebook and Instagram have complained following Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday that they have “automatically” been made to follow the new president, as well as Vice-President JD Vance and First Lady Melania Trump.
The company said the changes noticed by the users were standard practices, often followed when there is a transition from the previous administration to the incoming one.
Meta spokesman, Andy Stone explained that the accounts are managed by the White House, which has updated them to reflect the new position holders.
He said, “People were not made to automatically follow any of the official Facebook or Instagram accounts for the President, Vice President or First Lady. Those accounts are managed by the White House so with a new administration, the content on those Pages changes.
“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.”
Meta’s public affairs director, Nkechi Nneji told CBS NEWS that people might have forgotten that they had followed the official White House accounts during previous administrations.
“Meta doesn’t make anyone follow any account and we never have,” Nneji said.
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