As he returned to the White House on Monday, Meta is refuting allegations that it promoted President Donald Trump and his administration on its platforms.
After their government succeeded previous President Joe Biden, several Facebook and Instagram users voiced concern after receiving notices that their accounts had followed the sites of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance. However, according to a Meta representative, the modifications were a normal part of administrative rotation.
On Instagram, some users reported that the #democrat hashtag’s search results weren’t appearing on Monday or early Tuesday. Instead, they displayed a notice that said, “We’ve hidden these results,” along with the warning that the phrase they looked for might contain sensitive content.
Some users questioned whether the changes they were witnessing were related to Meta’s political shifts when CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the company publicly moved their policies and political affiliations to the right.
Andy Stone, the director of Meta Communications, suggested on social media that what people were seeing was a mix of an unfortunate mistake and Meta’s standard procedure during presidential transitions.
The POTUS and White House accounts are run by the White House and change when the White House occupant changes, so if you followed those accounts during one administration, you would still be following them when the administration changes. Stone made this statement in response to a post from Distill Social, a nonprofit organization that expressed dissatisfaction over Meta pressuring people to follow Trump.
However, as several users have noted, Meta appears to have set up new accounts specifically for the purpose of archiving the content from the previous administration, which users tend to follow automatically when the administration switches. At least a few individuals were informed throughout that process that they had begun to follow accounts belonging to Trump, Vance, and first lady Melania Trump.
Stone also responded to criticism on the dearth of #democrat search results in his posts on Monday.
According to Stone, Meta is having problems that make it difficult for users to search for more than just the left-hand hashtags on Instagram. We’re working fast to fix this.
He made no mention of the nature of the problem, and Meta refused to elaborate.
At a time when the social media behemoth appears to have swung to the right, the misunderstanding has made some users uneasy.
Zuckerberg announced earlier this month that he would replace its fact-checking system, which has been heavily criticized by Trump and conservatives due to the disputed belief that it disproportionately targets right-wing content, with a user-driven system akin to X’s Community Notes program as part of a series of policy and practice changes.
Zuckerberg claimed that its fact-checkers were too politically biased, and Meta suggested that consensus between individuals with different viewpoints would be necessary for its new community-based system. Zuckerberg stated in a Facebook video announcing the move that the election significantly impacted the company’s choice to prioritize expression over fact-checking.
This month, Meta also made an internal announcement that it would discontinue a number of its initiatives aimed at promoting diversity in hiring, such as its diverse slate strategy and the dissolution of its diversity, equity, and inclusion team.
Additionally, Meta’s “hateful conduct” policy has been amended to permit entries that refer to LGBTQ individuals as mentally ill. In his video, Zuckerberg stated that the firm is streamlining its content restrictions around issues like immigration and gender.
He claimed that what began as an effort to be more inclusive has gone too far in being used to silence dissenting voices and exclude those who hold different views. On our platforms, I want to ensure that people can express their opinions and experiences.
Zuckerberg was one of the prominent internet billionaires who attended the inauguration of the new president on Monday, having contributed $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund.
He uploaded a picture of himself and his wife, Priscilla Chan, dressed up for the occasion on Facebook, expressing optimism and celebration.