Instagram, Facebook users confounded by perceived auto-follow for Trump likely followed the POTUS accounts previously

Liberal Facebook and Instagram users were alarmed when they discovered that they were automatically following President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance’s accounts after the inauguration, mistakenly believing that the platforms were forcing them to follow as part of a propaganda machine.

These users were surprised to see posts from the newly sworn-in leaders on their feeds without having intentionally followed Trump or Vance.

Some individuals speculated that the automatic follow was an initial move by the Trump Administration to exert control over Meta-owned social media platforms. This fear was fueled by the prominent presence of social media executives, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, at Trump’s inauguration.

“Wait, did Facebook auto follow all of the new admin for Americans?? I did not follow any of these pages, but they were at the top of my feed, and when I clicked through, it said I followed them??” one user expressed on X.

“Not only is Instagram forcing accounts to auto-follow the VP, but they essentially bought or stole Kamala’s entire follow list. They have the exact same amount of followers, and all the people I follow follow both accounts. People I know don’t want to follow him,” another user added.

“Believe it or not, I realized today that I was following an account I never followed at all. The automatic follow is part of the propaganda machine social media has become. I will have to check on a daily basis on a ridiculous (un)following battle I don’t want to be a part of,” a third user wrote.

However, the concerned social media users were simply following the official US government accounts, which transition with each new administration in the White House, as others pointed out to ease the growing alarm.

“Not to say Meta is above doing sketchy stuff, but this wasn’t an ‘auto follow’ in that sense. The official VP Insta switched from Harris to Vance, retaining current followers. The POTUS account also switched over, but I guess Vance is just a particularly jarring face to see pop up,” one X user clarified.

The official government accounts, including the POTUS, vice president, and first lady social media profiles, are managed by the White House and the current administration in office.

These accounts always change when the occupant of the White House changes, as Meta spokesman Andy Stone explained in a Threads post.

Following the inauguration, all posts from the previous administration are archived, giving the appearance of a fresh start. However, the account itself remains the same, so the followers remain unchanged.

As of Tuesday morning, former President Joe Biden’s archived POTUS account on Facebook had 11 million followers, matching Trump’s new POTUS account on the platform.

Consequently, many supporters of the Biden Administration found themselves unintentionally following Trump on Monday.

Every user has the option to freely choose whether to continue following or unfollow the accounts by clicking the ellipsis on the profile page and selecting “unfollow.”

With Post wires