"Shady stuff going on"— Internet reacts as Meta Communications Director addresses users not being able to unfollow Donald Trump

Meta Communications Director Andy Stone explained why some people are following US President Donald Trump or his Vice President JD Vance on social media, despite not wanting to follow them. The explanation comes after many netizens complained that they were forced to follow the POTUS or the VP accounts and were unable to unfollow them despite trying multiple times.

On Wednesday, January 22, Stone took his X account to address the complaints. He denied forcing Facebook and Instagram users to follow those accounts but admitted that some people are having trouble unfollowing them.

"People were not made to automatically follow any of the official Facebook or Instagram accounts for the President, Vice President or First Lady. Those accounts are managed by the White House so with a new administration, the content on those Pages changes," he stated in his post.

The Meta director's explanation sparked reactions from netizens, with plenty of them sharing that they encountered the same "shady" stuff of not being able to unfollow Donald Trump, including the VP.

"I see some friends who would never follow Vance's official (non VP) account are now following him. Shady stuff going on," a Reddit user wrote.

(Image via scaramOuche/Reddit)

More users shared the same problem they or their friends had with their accounts where they couldn't unfollow the POTUS and VP JD Vance.

" I understand the concept that since I followed potus and vp during the Biden administration, I would still be following those handles after they changed over. No matter how many times I have unfollowed and blocked the - I think I've done six or seven times now - they continue to be followed by my account," a Reddit user wrote.

"I checked and like 5 people I know would never follow them were. I blocked them preemptively," another Reddit user said.

"I keep blocking JD Vance on Instagram and every time I check again, he's unblocked," a user on Reddit added.

Meanwhile, other netizens didn't believe the Meta director's explanation, calling it "utter bullsh*t." They noted that they hadn't followed the account before, so it must have been auto-followed.

"Bullsh*t. Utter Bullsh*t. I didn't follow any. Then after I was auto followed because meta it took me 5 TIMES to unfollowed. Then blocked," an X user commented.

"NOT TRUE. I never followed the official POTIS account on Instagram. It now shows being followed. This was done automatically, without any kind of consent. It even shows up as the account I most recently followed. WHAT THE ACTUAL F??," another X user wrote.

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Meta says it "may take some time" for unfollow requests to go through amid backlash from users not being able to unfollow Donald Trump

Following Facebook and Instagram users complaining about their accounts being made to automatically follow Donald Trump, Meta Communications Director Andy Stone explained the issue. In his post on X on January 22, Stone said that nothing has changed in their procedure when a new president takes over the White House.

"This is the same procedure we followed during the last presidential transition," he said.

Earlier on the same day, the Meta director reminded netizens that POTUS and White House accounts on Facebook are managed by the White House and that they change when the White House occupant changes. It means that if a user followed those accounts sometime during one administration, the user would still be following the account when the admin changes over.

Stone further said:

"It may take some time for follow and unfollow requests to go through as these accounts chands."

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Meta is understood to be investigating its users' claims as a growing number of netizens come out sharing the same claims that it was impossible to unfollow those accounts. Stone said that they are "quickly" working to resolve the issue, per NBC.