Meta is pushing back on claims from social media users who say they've been forced to follow Facebook and Instagram accounts belonging to U.S. President Donald Trump, his wife Melania Trump and Vice-President J.

Some Meta users said that they believed they were forced to follow Donald Trump and JD Vance’s pages, and that Instagram was blocking searches for the #democrat hashtag.

In the days since Donald Trump assumed office, many people online have begun expressing alarm to find they were unwittingly following Trump on Instagram and Facebook.

Social media users, including celebrities such as singers Demi Lovato and Gracie Abrams, are posting complaints that Meta won’t let them unfollow President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and first lady Melania Trump on Instagram.

Meta denies that Instagram and Facebook users were forced to follow Donald Trump and JD Vance after the inauguration.

After President Donald Trump’s swearing in Monday, numerous Facebook and Instagram users discovered — to their horror and dismay — that they were somehow following not only Trump but also Vice President JD Vance,

Some Meta social media users said on Wednesday that their accounts re-followed the profiles of President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and first lady Melania Trump after they had unfollowed those accounts once Trump took office for his second term.

The followers for both accounts rapidly increased after Mr Trump acquired the @POTUS Instagram handle and Mr Vance was assigned the @VP handle. Many people have complained on social media that they never followed the politicians in the first place.

This made-up story appeared in YouTube videos displaying visuals and sound generated by artificial intelligence.

Susan Benesch weighs in on the political implications of Meta's recent change in speech policies.

Republican Donald Trump was inaugurated as president on Monday, succeeding Democrat Joe Biden. Yet on Thursday, the Meta AI chatbot was still saying that Biden was president, according to the source and to a Reuters test of the service. Asked by Reuters on Thursday to name the president, Meta AI replied: