Social media users across America, including celebrities like Demi Lovato and Gracie Abrams, have expressed frustration over their inability to unfollow US President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and First Lady Melania Trump on Instagram. Users claim that Meta, the parent company of Instagram, is automatically refollowing these accounts, CNN reported on Wednesday.
Gracie Abrams, an American singer-songwriter, shared her experience on Instagram, stating that she had to unfollow the “@vp” and “@potus” accounts multiple times as Meta kept refollowing them. To avoid further frustration, she eventually blocked the accounts.
“How curious!” she wrote on her Instagram story, as quoted by CNN. Demi Lovato voiced similar concerns, saying she had to unfollow President Trump twice in one day.
Some users also raised concerns about the hashtag #Democrat being temporarily blocked on Instagram. However, Meta clarified that the issue was a technical glitch affecting the hashtag search feature across the platform and was not limited to left-leaning hashtags. The company also denied claims of forcing users to follow official accounts linked to the new administration.
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone explained that delays in processing follow and unfollow requests were due to the transition of accounts associated with the President, Vice President, and First Lady.
“People were not made to automatically follow any of these accounts,” Stone said in a post on X. He added that similar procedures were followed during previous transitions.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who attended Trump’s inauguration, explained that the changes were part of broader efforts to rebuild user trust following concerns about excessive content moderation.
(With ANI input)