Why You Might Suddenly Be Following Trump on Instagram and Facebook
Many Instagram and Facebook users say they are confused about why they are seeing posts from the president and vice president in their feeds. Here’s what to know.
On Tuesday, the day after the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump, many Instagram and Facebook users found themselves following him on the social media apps even though they had not signed up to do so.
What gives?
Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, said it was part of a regular process in which White House social media accounts are handed over when a new president takes office. It added that there were some other bugs in the process that may have mucked up the gears of the transition.
Let’s walk through what happened.
Why am I following Donald Trump, Melania Trump and JD Vance on Instagram and Facebook?
Just as the federal government has to deal with the transition of power between administrations, Meta has to deal with it, too.
For years, companies like Meta and X — previously known as Facebook and Twitter, respectively — have had to handle the social media accounts held by the office of the president as it changed hands after an election. That ramped up after Barack Obama took office in 2008 and fully embraced social media to garner support from voters digitally. By 2016, the companies needed to figure out how to hand those accounts off between administrations.
Meta and X decided that the official POTUS, VP and first lady accounts on Facebook, Instagram and X would be switched to the new administration while retaining the existing followers of those accounts. That meant that if you followed President Obama in 2016, you were automatically switched over to follow President Trump when he took office in his first administration in 2017. Mr. Obama’s posts were archived under a different handle, while Mr. Trump’s account reset with none of Mr. Obama’s old posts attached.
That transition occurred again in 2020, when Joseph R. Biden Jr. was elected and took over the official presidential account. On Monday, after Mr. Trump was sworn in, the switch occurred again. That’s why you may be seeing his posts in your feed now.
