Ceaseless memes alongside photos and videos shared both in praise and outrage — from Melania’s Hamburglar hat, to Elon Musk’s concerning salute — have flooded all feeds everywhere since Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday, January 20.
One delayed, and more surprising trend, has followed: furious stories of Instagram users claiming to have been automatically made to follow President Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, as well as Vice President JD Vance across Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta platforms. Cue understandable hysteria.
Some members of the public first expressed their concern when they were notified of the following — others were not notified, and are now vocally directing their followers to check if the same has happened. Some users even claim to have unfollowed the accounts in question long ago only to find them re-followed, and have now blocked the them to prevent auto-following.
Why am I now following Donald Trump on Instagram and Facebook?
Meta has responded to the claims. The company’s Communications Director, Andy Stone, explained on X “accounts are managed by the White House and they change when the occupant of the White House changes.”
The https://t.co/LunllS6D3s and https://t.co/ablkLiXAjw accounts are managed by the White House and they change when the occupant of the White House changes. https://t.co/w2cnzz28Gd
— Andy Stone (@andymstone) January 20, 2025
On Instagram, the handles follow the format @potus and @flotus, which are then inherited by the newly elected officials. The former leaders then have their feeds transferred to archive accounts. Joe Biden’s can be found at @potus46archive, while former First Lady Jill Biden’s is @flotus46archive — accounts which also appear to have been auto-followed.
The explanation has not squashed concern. It comes after Zuckerberg’s keen interest in sweetening the 47th President. He donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund in December, was present at the inauguration, and made sweeping changes to Meta’s policies earlier this month.
Specifically, these included the replacement of its fact-checking systems which Zuckerberg has said are “too politically biased,” and claiming the move would help in “prioritising speech.” They have been labelled “chilling.”
“It's time to get back to our roots around free expression,” he wrote on a Facebook post. “We're replacing fact checkers with Community Notes, simplifying our policies and focusing on reducing mistakes. Looking forward to this next chapter.”
Separately, he announced the termination of many of Meta’s diversity hiring programmes. “What started as a movement to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut down opinions and shut out people with different ideas, and it’s gone too far. I want to make sure that people can share their beliefs and experiences on our platforms,” he said.
