Meta, the company that owns the social networks Facebook and Instagram, has denied forcing its users to follow official accounts belonging to senior officials in the new Trump administration.
Some users of the platforms complained after Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday that they were “automatically” forced to follow the new president, as well as Vice President JD Vance and first lady Melania Trump.
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone explained that the accounts were maintained by the White House, which updated them to reflect new job holders.
“This is the same procedure we followed during the last presidential transition,” he wrote in a statement.
The accounts bear the names of Potus – meaning “president of the United States” – as well as Vice President and Flotus, an acronym for the first lady.
Archived versions of the pages show that the Potus and Flotus accounts previously bore the name and official likeness of Joe Biden and Jill Biden, respectively.
Mr. Stone added that “it may take some time to process follow and unfollow requests as these accounts change hands.”
Trump became president of the United States for the second time on Monday and quickly issued a series of executive orders and directives affirming his policy agenda – ranging from withdraw from the World Health Organization to declare a national emergency on the border with Mexico.
His inauguration took place in the presence of some of the most influential tech billionairesincluding Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg and X chief Elon Musk, who also plays an advisory role in the new administration.
Trump has previously sharply criticized Meta, who banned him in 2021 for what he described as his “praise of people engaged in violence” during the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol.
The president and his allies also accused the company of cooperating with the Biden administration to suppress reports regarding allegations about Biden’s son, Hunter, and certain content surrounding the Covid pandemic. Mr. Zuckerberg said he regretted the decision.
In August, Trump wrote in a book that Mr. Zuckerberg would “spend the rest of his life in prison” if he tried to interfere in the 2024 presidential election.
Since Trump’s election victory in early November, Mr. Zuckerberg appears to have gained favor with him, dinner with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence at the end of the month and donate $1 million (£786,000) towards its inauguration a few weeks later.
Meta also said earlier this month that it would end third-party fact-checking in favor of a similar approach to X’s community ratings, in an apparent attempt to address some of the past criticism of Trump.
The company said this marked a return to its “fundamental commitment to freedom of expression.”
