In the two days since Donald Trump was sworn into office, you may have noticed something unusual on social media: You and your friends might be following Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, first lady Melania Trump, and the Trump White House on Instagram and Facebook, despite never having followed these accounts before. This raises the question: Did Meta automatically follow these accounts on your behalf?
Instagram Isn’t Forcing You to Follow Trump
According to Meta, the answer is no. The company has referred outlets to a post on Threads from Meta communications spokesperson Andy Stone, who clarifies: “A reminder: the Facebook.com/POTUS and Facebook.com/WhiteHouse accounts are managed by the White House. They transition when the occupant of the White House changes.” Cosmopolitan obtained another statement from Meta, which states: “People were not made to automatically follow any of the official Facebook or Instagram accounts for the President, Vice President, or First Lady. These accounts are managed by the White House, and with a new administration, the content on those Pages changes. This procedure is consistent with past presidential transitions. However, it may take some time for follow and unfollow requests to process as these accounts change hands.”
This explanation seems logical: If the account, akin to the presidency itself, is more than just its current occupant, then users who follow the official POTUS, VPOTUS, and FLOTUS accounts are essentially following whoever holds those positions at any given time. This transition was similar to what occurred during the last administration: This CNN article from January 2021 discusses how multiple social media platforms—including Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and YouTube—transitioned their POTUS, VPOTUS, and FLOTUS accounts (and their followers) to the incoming Biden administration. Notably, Twitter was the only platform that opted not to automatically transfer followers, instead alerting users about how to follow the new accounts.
Some users are pointing out that Meta seems to imply these accounts are brand new. For instance, the official account of the President (not Trump’s personal account) lists the “date joined” as January 2025 on Instagram. (The verification date aligns exactly with this.) This discrepancy adds to the confusion: while Meta claims these accounts are established and change with the current officeholder, they also suggest that Trump’s POTUS account was created this month. In contrast, President Biden’s archived account shows a date joined and verified as January 2021, indicating that the Biden account was similarly initiated when he took office.
Meta’s Political Issues
The primary issue appears to stem from miscommunication, polarization, and existing grievances users have with the platform. Meta should have communicated more clearly that users were not following the politicians directly, but rather an account that would change as the politicians do. If users are uninterested in following a new president or vice president, they shouldn’t feel compelled to do so.
This situation also positions Meta to appear sympathetic to the new Trump administration. Mark Zuckerberg, one of the tech giants who attended the inauguration, draws attention to the fact that when his platform seems to follow the new president, vice president, and first lady on behalf of its users—whether or not that’s true—it reinforces that perception. This coincides with Meta’s recent shift rightward politically, as the company is embracing politics more actively than ever. Earlier this year, Instagram and Threads adjusted their algorithms to prioritize political content in users’ feeds from accounts they don’t follow. Simultaneously, Meta also rolled back its policies on fact-checking and hate speech across its platforms.
Meta has alienated a significant portion of its user base in recent months; thus, when these users open their apps to find they are now following politicians they may vehemently disagree with, it creates a backlash, as evidenced by the headlines about Meta forcing users to follow Trump, Vance, Melania, and the Trump White House. Scanning the comments on the POTUS, VPOTUS, and White House accounts reveals widespread dissatisfaction among users regarding their new follows. (Currently, FLOTUS has no posts.)
You May Need to Wait to Unfollow These Accounts
Unfortunately, unfollowing these accounts might not be as straightforward as simply hitting “unfollow.” According to Andy Stone, it may take time for unfollow requests to process, meaning users might find themselves stuck with any combination of these three accounts in their feeds.
On the flip side, if you were following the previous administration on any of these three accounts, you will also continue to follow their archived accounts. Being archived means you won’t see new posts from these accounts, leaving the decision to stay followed or unfollow up to you.
