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.

Hours after Donald Trump was sworn in as president on Monday, some Instagram and Facebook users started noticing that their accounts were suddenly following Pages associated with the new president, First Lady Melania Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

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.

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,

“I, like others, repeatedly unfollowed Trump and Vance on Monday, only to discover that I was following them again,” said Facebook user Anna Springer on Threads, which is also owned by Meta. “Not sure if it was just a glitch or something intentional, but it definitely happened.”

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

Mark Zuckerberg has come under fire for allegedly making users auto-follow the new White House occupants — now Meta has responded to the claims

Meta admits some people can’t unfollow Donald Trump on Instagram - Users including Gracie Abrams have said they never asked to follow presidential account – and are unable to stop