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Meta, the company that owns the social networks Facebook and Instagram, has denied forcing users to follow the official accounts of senior officials of the new Trump administration.
Some users of the platforms complained after Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday that they “automatically” followed the new president, as well as Vice President JD Vance and first lady Melania Trump.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone explained that the accounts are managed by the White House and have been updated to reflect the new positions.
“This is the same procedure we followed during the last presidential transition,” he wrote in a statement.
The accounts bear the handles Potus – which means “President of the United States” – as well as Vice President and Flotus, an acronym for the first lady.
Archived versions of the pages show that the Potus and Flotus accounts carried the name and official portrait of Joe Biden and Jill Biden, respectively.
Mr. Stone added that “it may take some time to track and track requests as these accounts change hands.”
Trump became US president for a second term on Monday and quickly began issuing a series of orders and directives to promote his political agenda, among other things. Pulling out of the World Health Organization to declare a national emergency on the Mexican border.
He attended its inauguration some of the most influential tech billionairesincluding Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg and X boss Elon Musk, who also has an advisory role in the new administration.
Trump has been heavily critical of Meta, which he banned in 2021 for what he described as a “glorification of people who engaged in violence” during the January 6 riots at the US Capitol.
The president and his allies were accused of colluding with the Biden administration to suppress reports about Biden’s son, Hunter, and some content about the Covid pandemic. Mr. Zuckerberg He said he regretted the decision.
In August, Trump wrote in a book that Mr. Zuckerberg would “spend the rest of his life in prison” if he tried to interfere in the 2024 presidential election.
Since Trump won the election in early November, however, Mr. Zuckerberg appears to have favored him, Dine with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence at the end of the month and Giving $1 million (£786,000) for its opening a few weeks later
Meta also said earlier this month that it would end its third-party fact-checking in favor of a similar approach to X’s community notes, appearing to counter some of Trump’s prior criticism.
The company said this comes back to its “core commitment to free speech.”
