Meta users find themselves re-following Trump, Vance, and Melania without consent, top executive reacts

Users across Meta platforms reported a glitch that caused them to re-follow Donald Trump and other officials after unfollowing them.

Published on: Jan 23, 2025, 07:55:31 IST

By HT News Desk

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A curious glitch was reported by Meta platform users across the United States who claimed that they found themselves automatically re-following the profiles of US President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and First Lady Melania Trump, after having unfollowed them earlier in the week, news agency Reuters reported.

Users found themselves automatically re-following the profiles of US President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and First Lady Melania Trump. (Bloomberg)

The reports came after several Meta users who said they unfollowed the official account of the US leaders multiple times after Trump's inauguration discovered that they found them in their following list again without their consent.

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"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."

Singer Demi Lovato, comedian Sarah Colonna report the glitch

American singer Demi Lovato was also one of the users who faced the fiasco. She posted a photo on her Instagram story of her following the vice president saying, "I have unfollowed this guy twice today."

Actor and comedian Sarah Colonna also found herself in a similar situation when she reported that her account was following First Lady Melania Trump without consent.

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"Why did my Facebook automatically start following Melania Trump this (morning)? What are you doing?" Colonna said on Threads on Tuesday, tagging Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's CEO, in her post.

Notably, when a new presidential administration takes office, official White House social media accounts typically transfer over to the new administration.

Meta's response

While Meta did not respond immediately to requests for comment, its communications director, Andy Stone, addressed the issue on X (formerly Twitter), explaining that the phenomenon may have been related to the rollover of official accounts from the Biden administration to the Trump administration.

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"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," he added.

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

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HT News Desk
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