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(L-R) Priscilla Chan, CEO of Meta and Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, and Lauren Sanchez attend the inauguration ceremony before Donald Trump is sworn in as the 47th president of the United States in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025.
Saul Loeb | afp | fake images
Instagram users complain this week that they are being forced by Goal continue President Donald Trump social media accounts without your consent.
In a Threads post on Wednesday, a Meta representative said users see posts from @POTUS, @VP and @FLOTUS because those accounts are transferred when a presidential transition occurs in the US.
“People were not forced to automatically follow any of the official Facebook or Instagram accounts of the president, vice president or first lady.” wrote Andy Stone, spokesperson for Meta. “Those accounts are managed by the White House, so with a new administration, the content of those pages changes.”
Users who previously followed the accounts will continue to follow them, as well as archive accounts from the previous administration, when the power transition occurs, Meta confirmed in an email. That includes the @WhiteHouse account.
Trump’s inauguration on Monday marked the third handover from one administration to the next. The Obama administration, which created many of the accounts used today, addressed the issue in a blog post before the 2016 election, which Trump also won.
“On Instagram and Facebook, the incoming White House will gain access to the White House username and URL and retain followers, but will start with no content on the timeline,” the Obama administration wrote. “An archive of White House content that was posted to the Obama White House Instagram and Facebook will remain accessible to the public at Instagram.com/ObamaWhiteHouse and Facebook.com/ObamaWhiteHouse.”
The Obama administration added that all posts and materials created by the accounts would be preserved at the National Archives and Records Administration and that new accounts would also be created to preserve the content.
Posts from accounts previously used by former President Joe Biden, former Vice President Kamala Harris and former First Lady Jill Biden have been moved to @potus46archive, @vp46archive and @fotus46archive, respectively.
Political chatter has intensified on Meta platforms following a series of actions taken by the CEO. Mark Zuckerberg which appeared to be aimed at appeasing President Trump.
Zuckerberg donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration and attended the event in Washington DC, including co-host a celebration reception.
Zuckerberg announced several policy changes for Meta this month, including eliminate third-party fact checking and ending the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion program. The company also named joel kaplana former Republican White House staffer, as his new policy chief, and Zuckerberg, in an appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast, touted the benefits of masculinity.
“I think having a culture that celebrates aggression a little more has its own merits,” Zuckerberg said on the podcast.
