After Donald Trump was sworn in as America’s 47th President, numerous Facebook users discovered an unusual changes in their feeds. Many noticed that they went back to following Trump’s official Facebook page automatically. It got quite a few people thinking and talking online.
Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Meta, stated that the company was making changes to repair its organization with the new Republican president. However, this is only part of the truth.
Official Facebook pages for the President of the United States and the White House are run by the current White House administration. Upon taking office on January 20, Trump began to have these pages share official content including his presidential portrait, photos of him signing executive orders, and pictures from his inauguration ceremony. However, it is understandable that those who may have followed these feeds during the days of former President Biden don’t know how these official pages work. Hence, they may feel a bit startled when, all of a sudden, posts come up featuring Trump onto their feed.
Andy Stone, Communication Director at Facebook, said he has never come across any proof that users were forcibly made to follow Trump’s page. The whole issue has created a lot of mixed feelings among users – fear and confusion about the direction social media companies may take, especially with the beginning of Trump’s presidency. The worry is not confined to Facebook-this sentiment reverberates across other platforms as users engage in conversations over whether there will be a content and policy shift towards the right.