National archives and records administration

Amid concerns that some of the biggest names in tech are enjoying a cozy relationship with President Donald Trump's White House, Instagram users claimed that its owner, Meta, formerly Facebook, had surreptitiously made them "follow" Trump's and Vice President JD Vance's profiles on the social media platform.

Some users who said they "unfollowed" Trump's and Vance's profiles later reported they were "following" them again, despite explicitly declining their interest.

The Claim

Multiple posts on X, formerly Twitter, claimed Meta had made users follow Trump and Vance on Instagram without their permission.

A post by NurysKMateo, posted on January 21, 2025, viewed 102,000 times, said: "Apparently instagram is automatically following Trump and the VP from peoples accounts without them knowing.

Made sure to block them before they tried it with me 😂"

User @MaileonX wrote: "Wtf. Instagram autofollowed my account to JD Vance. I had to unfollow. Knock it off @JDVance

"this is t