Meta denies claims it is pushing users to follow accounts linked to Trump team
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Meta has denied claims from some users that it is pushing them to follow social media accounts linked to US president Donald Trump and his administration. It comes after some users expressed surprise when they saw they were following the accounts of Mr Trump and his vice president JD Vance following their inauguration on Monday.
In response, the social media giant has highlighted that the accounts linked to the president and vice president of the United States are linked to the office, rather than the individual, and if users followed those accounts during the previous administration, they would still be following them now they had passed to Mr Trump and Mr Vance.
Posting to a number of social media channels, Meta communication director Andy Stone said that presidential and White House accounts were “managed by the White House and they change when the occupant of the White House changes”. How curious! Had to block (@vp and @potus) in order to make sure I am nowhere near that.
This was also true of other accounts linked to the US presidency, including that of the vice president and first lady. But some users had made further claims that they were being forced to follow the accounts, and had been unable to unfollow them when trying to do so.
Singer Gracie Abrams, in a post to her Instagram Stories, said she had to “unfollow @vp and @potus three (3) separate times today because Meta kept automatically refollowing the accounts”. She added: “How curious! Had to block them in order to make sure I am nowhere near that.”.
