U.S. Meta users report automatic re-follows of U.S. president, VP accounts

The Meta logo is seen at the Vivatech show in Paris, France, on June 14, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Thibault Camus

NEW YORK - Some Meta social media users said on Wednesday that their accounts re-followed the profiles of U.S. President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and first lady Melania Trump after they had unfollowed those accounts once Trump took office for his second term.

When a presidential administration changes, the official White House social media accounts roll over to the new elected officials. That happened in 2017 and 2021, when Trump succeeded Barack Obama as president, and then when Joe Biden succeeded Trump.

However, some users said that even after unfollowing the president, vice president and first lady accounts since Monday, they found they were soon following those accounts again, in some cases after unfollowing more than once or blocking the accounts.

“I, like others, repeatedly unfollowed Trump and Vance on Monday, only to discover that I was following them again,” said Facebook user Anna Springer on Threads, which is also owned by Meta. “Not sure if it was just a glitch or something intentional, but it definitely happened.”

Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Meta communications director Andy Stone said on X that people who had been following the Biden administration’s official accounts rolled over to the same official accounts under the Trump administration.

“People were not made to automatically follow any of the official Facebook or Instagram accounts for the President, Vice President or First Lady,” Stone said on X. “Those accounts are managed by the White House so with a new administration, the content on those pages changes.”

“It may take some time for follow and unfollow requests to go through as these accounts change hands,” Stone said on Threads.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

American singer Demi Lovato posted a photo to her Instagram story of her following the vice president. “I have unfollowed this guy twice today,” she wrote to her 150 million followers.

Others reported they were also following first lady Melania Trump without choosing to do so.

“Why did my Facebook automatically start following Melania Trump this (morning)? What are you doing?” actor and comedian Sarah Colonna said on Threads on Tuesday, tagging Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s CEO, in her post.

Social-media users follow other users to see their posts, usually by clicking a single button. The more followers an account has, the wider the audience that sees their messages.

(Reporting by Doyinsola Oladipo in New York; additional reporting by Katie Paul in New York and Danielle Broadway in Los Angeles; Editing by Rod Nickel)