Social media users, including celebrities like singers Demi Lovato and Gracie Abrams, have expressed frustration that Meta won’t let them unfollow President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and First Lady Melania Trump on Instagram.
Gracie Abrams shared on her Instagram story that she had to unfollow the @vp and @potus accounts three times because Meta kept automatically refollowing them. She wrote, “How curious!” and mentioned that she had to block the accounts to ensure she stayed away from them.
Demi Lovato also posted on her Instagram story, saying, “I have unfollowed this guy twice today.”
Many other social media users have warned others to unfollow these accounts if they don’t support the Trump administration.
In addition, some users pointed out that the hashtag #Democrat was blocked on Instagram this week. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone responded on Tuesday, explaining that the company was addressing an issue with the search function for various hashtags, and that it affected hashtags across the political spectrum.
However, Meta denied forcing users to follow Trump and Vance’s accounts. The company explained that the official accounts for the President, Vice President, and First Lady change with each 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 in a post on X. “This is the same procedure we followed during the last presidential transition.”
Meta also stated that, as in 2020, it was transitioning the social media accounts to the new administration, just as it had done between the Obama and Trump administrations in 2017.
Stone further clarified that it may take some time for follow and unfollow requests to process as these accounts change hands.
The incident has contributed to growing liberal skepticism about Meta, which has been shifting toward a more right-wing stance in recent weeks.
Ahead of Trump’s inauguration, Meta made several notable changes, including replacing its top policy executive with a well-known Republican. The company also appointed Trump ally and UFC president Dana White to its board of directors. Additionally, Meta announced it would be ending its third-party fact-checking programs in the U.S. and revising its policies on hateful conduct. These updates, according to the new guidelines, allow certain types of content that were previously restricted, including references to “women as household objects.”
Recently, Meta also discontinued its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. On the same day, CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast, explaining that these changes had been in the works for some time. He claimed that excessive content moderation and fact-checking had “destroyed trust” on the platform.
Zuckerberg was one of several tech billionaires who attended Trump’s inauguration.