Washington, DC [US], January 23 : Social media users, including celebrities like Demi Lovato and Gracie Abrams, have been grumbling as they aren't able to unfollow US President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and First Lady Melania Trump on Instagram, stating that the multinational technology conglomerate Meta is not allowing them to unfollow the head of the new US administration, CNN reported on Wednesday.
According to CNN, Abrams, an American singer and songwriter, took to her Instagram story stating that she had to unfollow the "@vp" and "@potus" accounts three times as Meta kept automatically refollowing them. She even had to block the accounts to ensure she stayed away from them.
"How curious!" the singer wrote as quoted by CNN. "Had to block them in order to make sure I am nowhere near that."
Meanwhile, singer and songwriter Demi Lovato also posted on her Instagram story saying she had to unfollow the US President twice in one day.
"I have unfollowed this guy twice today," Lovato said, as quoted by CNN.
Additionally, some raised concerns over the hashtag #Democrat being blocked on Instagram for this week, CNN reported.
However, Meta clarified that a technical issue affected the hashtag search feature, and it wasn't limited to just left-wing hashtags. Meta further denied forcing users to follow President Trump's and Vice-President Vance's accounts, explaining that the accounts for the President, Vice President, and First Lady change with each administration, as reported by CNN.
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone stated that this was standard procedure during transitions, and the delay in follow and unfollow requests was due to the accounts changing hands.
"People were not made to automatically follow any of the official Facebook or Instagram accounts for the President, Vice President or First Lady," Stone said as quoted by CNN in a post on X. "This is the same procedure we followed during the last presidential transition...It may take some time for follow and unfollow requests to go through as these accounts change hands," Stone added.
The incident adds to growing liberal scepticism of Meta, which has recently shifted its policies to the right. Notably, the company appointed a prominent Republican to head its policy division and brought Trump ally and UFC boss Dana White onto its board, CNN reported.
Meta also ended its third-party fact-checking programs and revised its hateful conduct policies, allowing more types of content, including those referring to "women as household objects." Furthermore, Meta dissolved its diversity and inclusion programs.
On the same day, CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared on Joe Rogan's podcast, explaining that these changes had been in the works for some time and that excessive content moderation had damaged user trust. Zuckerberg was also one of several tech billionaires who attended Trump's inauguration.