Many Facebook and Instagram users, including profiles of those no longer alive, discovered they were unexpectedly following the official accounts of Donald Trump and J.D. Vance after the Jan. 20 inauguration.
Each time a new U.S. administration takes office, the official social media accounts for the president, vice president and first lady transfer to the new occupants.
Followers of these accounts are carried over, while the previous administration's posts are archived. This protocol, established in 2016, aims to maintain continuity for government communications.
After Trump and Vance assumed office, many TikTok users, like @hopeyoufindyourdad, claimed they were automatically following their accounts, sparking accusations of platform manipulation.
Several others on the platform also claimed to check the profiles of dead users who were oddly following the accounts as well.
@hopeyoufindyourdad Donald Trump and JD Vance have made new accounts oh boy! #donaldtrump #jdvance
♬ original sound - Andra
"Weird story- I had a look at my insta and noted my uncle who passed away 4 years ago was following the VP...I don't think he became a fan from beyond," one TikTok user said.
"My late friend who passed in 2022 is following donald's potus account, which was created yesterday," another user said.
"So you're onto something because why is my friend who passed away over a year ago from cancer following them both? She would never," one user added.
However, Meta spokesman Andy Stone clarified that these accounts had not been auto-followed but inherited followers from the previous administration due to standard account transfer procedures, PEOPLE reported.
"They change when the occupant of the White House changes," Stone said.
Meta continues to face criticism from users who feel blindsided by these transitions, despite their being part of longstanding protocol.
"Just to back up what Andy is saying, my team set up the first ways of having to do this when Trump won in 2016 and we had to transfer the official accounts that President Obama's team created when Facebook pages were first created," Katie Harbath, Facebook's former director of public policy for global elections, said in a post to Threads.
Affected users can unfollow or block the accounts if they choose, and Meta representatives have reiterated the transparency of the process.
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