Gracie Abrams and Demi Lovato are criticizing Instagram’s parent company Meta for apparently obstructing their attempts to unfollow President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance on the platform after Inauguration Day.
Posting a close-up selfie on her Story Tuesday (Jan. 21) — just a day after the politicians took office — the “That’s So True” artist mentioned that she “had to unfollow @vp and @potus three (3) different times today because @meta kept automatically refollowing those accounts.”
“How intriguing!” she went on. “I needed to block them to ensure I remain far from that.” “Sharing in case this is occurring with your account too.”
The Camp Rock graduate also voiced their opinion on Tuesday. Sharing a screenshot of Vance’s profile on her own Story, Lovato stated, “I have unfollowed this guy two times today.”
“Dishonest f–king dealings, meta,” they remarked.
In a statement released by Meta’s Andy Stone on Threads Wednesday and communicated to Billboard, the company refuted claims that anyone was “automatically made to follow any of the official Facebook or Instagram accounts for the President, Vice President or First Lady.”
“The White House oversees those accounts, so when a new administration takes over, the content on those Pages evolves,” the communications director stated. “This is the identical process we utilized during the previous presidential transition.” “Follow and unfollow requests might take a while to process as these accounts transition ownership.”
Following their swearing-in ceremony on Monday (Jan. 20), Trump and Vance’s administration took charge of Instagram’s @potus and @vp accounts, officially beginning the twice-impeached billionaire’s second term in the White House. For the last four years, the accounts were managed by the administration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, which both Abrams and Lovato openly endorsed.
The two vocalists had also supported Harris’ 2024 presidential campaign, with the previous Eras Tour opener singing at one of the ex-prosecutor’s October rallies in Madison, Wis. Following Harris’s defeat to Trump in the election on Nov. 5, Lovato posted a hopeful message on X, stating, “This was OUR election and WE TRIUMPHED TOGETHER.” There is still much work ahead, but today we will honor one another.
Almost two months later, Trump is roughly 48 hours into his second presidency – and he’s off to a fast start. After a weekend of inauguration celebrations – which included performances plagued by technical issues from Carrie Underwood and Billy Ray Cyrus – the politician has promptly signed several executive actions focused on immigration, postponing the national TikTok ban and pardoning individuals accused of crimes linked to the Jan. 6 assaults on the U.S. Capitol. He has also undone many Biden-era directives that safeguarded against discrimination related to sexual orientation and gender identity.
Trump, who had been banned from Meta’s platforms for two years after the Jan. 6 insurrection, along with his team, has been actively utilizing his reinstated @potus account. He has shared eight posts on Instagram over the last two days and on Tuesday released a video of himself signing orders in the Oval Office with the caption, “Who’s ready for Day Two?” “The momentum cannot be stopped!”
