Meta denies forcing accounts to follow Donald Trump, claims hiding Democrat hashtags is a bug

midian182

midian182

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A hot potato: Meta has responded to complaints from Facebook, Instagram, and Threads users who say they suddenly found themselves following Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and First Lady Melania Trump without their knowledge. There are also reports of Democratic content being hidden. Some have pointed to Meta and CEO Mark Zuckerberg's recent shifting political stance as the cause, but the company claims otherwise.

Meta's communication director, Andy Stone, responded to the reports on Threads and X. He wrote that people were not made to automatically follow any of the official accounts for the President, Vice President or First Lady.

Stone went on to say that the accounts are managed by the White House, so the content on the pages changes with a new administration but the followers remain unchanged. The same procedure was carried out during the last presidential transition.

However, there are plenty of replies that cast doubt on Stone's explanation. Many people say they never followed Biden, Trump, or any political accounts, yet they are suddenly following the POTUS, VPOTUS, and FLOTUS accounts.

There are also complaints that those who suddenly found they are following Trump cannot unfollow him. Stone said that it may take some time for follow and unfollow requests to go through as the White House accounts change hands.

It's been noted that when a candidate leaves office, Meta creates archived POTUS accounts that followers are automatically signed up to. Some claim that as this happened, they automatically started following Trump, Vance and Melania Trump accounts.

Something else that has led to people accusing Meta of political bias is happening on Instagram. Users say that when doing hashtag searches for #Democrat or #Democrats, they are seeing messages that state, "We've hidden these results," and "Results for the term you searched for may contain sensitive content." Meta said the issue is caused by a technical problem affecting multiple hashtags, including some related to the Republican Party.

Seperate reports that people are seeing more political content in their feeds are a result of the changes that Zuckerberg announced at the start of January. The CEO also suspended the fact-checking program and reduced the amount of censorship on Meta's platforms. He later appeared on the Joe Rogan podcast, where he said that companies need more "masculine energy." It led to a lawyer dropping Meta as a client in a copyright case due to Zuckerberg's "toxic masculinity and neo-Nazi madness."

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Meta denies forcing accounts to follow Donald Trump, claims hiding Democrat hashtags is a bug

 
Ha! Isn’t it ironic? Not too long ago, Republicans were up in arms, accusing Facebook of being too liberal, and let’s not forget Trump’s banishment from the platform. Fast forward, and now Facebook seems to be bending the knee, aligning itself with the very figure it once pushed away.

It’s hard to ignore how this move feels less about principles and more about political or monetary gain. A perfect example of “shifting with the wind,” where corporate priorities adapt to suit the changing tides of power and profit.
 
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I mean if you are following the US presidents account and a new president takes over then of course that same presidents account would show the new president.
 
I still shake my head that anyone believes social media owners regardless..............but there are fools born every minute. I also wonder at TechSpot (Rob) - this is new....................??????? News???
 
Sure is funny how when it was the other way around all the liberals were going on about businesses' being free to do whatever they want and it was just another conspiracy from redneck conservatives.

I don't support either side having content hidden but you guys reversing your stance now are absolutely pathetic.
 
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hover389 said:
I mean if you are following the US presidents account and a new president takes over then of course that same presidents account would show the new president.
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Yes, that's the most likely explanation.

The notion that Republicans would force Democrats to follow Trump is simply ludicrous.
 
So now the articles and complaints are on the other foot. That's how things work. I not taking sides just pointing out a fact
 
RudyBob said:
So now the articles and complaints are on the other foot. That's how things work. I not taking sides just pointing out a fact
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Yep, both sides—it's like a bus full of kids whining about each other’s lunch choices. 'They have peanut butter!' Meanwhile, FB as usual, just making a mess.
 
Loadedaxe said:
Yep, both sides—it's like a bus full of kids whining about each other’s lunch choices. 'They have peanut butter!' Meanwhile, FB as usual, just making a mess.
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Facebook has been a mess for a decade. It's a waste.
 
ZedRM said:
You might have missed what he was meaning by stupid.
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Or perhaps he may have meant "obnoxious" and said "stupid". They are not synonyms.

Again, one of my "liberal" interpretations. <(double entendre intended).
 
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captaincranky said:
Or perhaps he may have meant "obnoxious" and said "stupid".
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I'm fairly certain they intended the meaning "brainless", "I d I o t I c", "moronic", "mentally lacking", etc, etc.

This point was not that the perceived "Broligarchy" was poorly executed or was done sloppy, rather that it's existence and premise is what is lacking in intelligence, which would be true if that kind of conspiracy was taking place, something I doubt but would not be surprised by.

captaincranky said:
Again, one of my "ultra liberal" interpretations.
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Fixed that for you.

The idea that Meta/Zuck was deliberately forcing things on people is a bit of a stretch. Would I be surprised if they had? No. But it's not something that seems likely given the liabilities involved in such a thing.
 
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ZedRM said:
I'm fairly certain they intended the meaning "brainless", "I d I o t I c", "moronic", "mentally lacking", etc, etc.

This point was not that the perceived "Broligarchy" was poorly executed or was done sloppy, rather that it's existence and premise is what is lacking in intelligence, which would be true if that kind of conspiracy was taking place, something I doubt but would not be surprised by.
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No, the "broligarchy" was formed with foresight and planning, and is far from stupid, or any synonym thereof. It was formed by greed, self interest, and a bunch of sunshine blown toward know who, and up you know who's where.

BTW, Musk is in Germany giving speeches at their far right party's rallies. I suppose that was "just an accident with no foresight or planning". as well. He was flying over in one of his jets, and decided to attend the rally by parachute.

I gather from your post in the other thread, that you're "here to protect other members from my misinformation, sparing them from my opinion.

I would caution you that you're not in any position of importance to do that. You're not a moderator, nor any member of the staff. Let other members decide to listen or leave, without your "bountiful" intervention.

I further gather that whatever you think or believe is "absolutely right". While everything I think or believe is completely wrong. That's a bit overbearing, don't cha think? (Of course you don't). Maybe a bit too presumptuous, over the top, self serving, you pick one. I'd call it manifestation of, "Dunning and Kruger syndrome". But then, what the heck do I know?

Would you believe I was just over at MSNBC, (where you'd expect me to be), and they ran a clip where even Fox was turning on trimp about his >personal crypto scam<. MSNBC ran a dozen clips of trimp calling crypto a "scam". Then, all of a sudden, he's elected and issues on of his own. :confused:

But that's OK right? Why shouldn't the POTUS be allowed to use the office for his personal gain? A and why shouldn't Musk be allowed to hire H1-Bs? I think it's wrong, but what the heck do I know?

BTW, this "uber leftie" was a registered Republican for about 40 years. I only switched to Democrat because I didn't have any voice in local politics. Philly hasn't had a
Republican mayor in over half a century. Now, I least can vote in the primary for the eventual mayor. More stupid on my part, I suppose.

I going to ask you one more time, please run along, and condescend to someone else.

The result of my most recent (25 years ago, not in school), IQ test can back with me listed as "above average intelligence" But I'm sure, you know better. I'm also sure that'll claim that, "whatever I can score, you can score better". It's in your nature.

Just to keep this on topic, "it's a 'bug' my a**", there's a dictator in the woodpile".
 
captaincranky said:
No, the "broligarchy" was formed with foresight and planning, and is far from stupid, or any synonym thereof. It was formed by greed, self interest, and a bunch of sunshine blown toward know who, and up you know who's where.

BTW, Musk is in Germany giving speeches at their far right party's rallies. I suppose that was "just an accident with no foresight or planning". as well. He was flying over in one of his jets, and decided to attend the rally by parachute.

I gather from your post in the other thread, that you're "here to protect other members from my misinformation, sparing them from my opinion.

I would caution you that you're not in any position of importance to do that. You're not a moderator, nor any member of the staff. Let other members decide to listen or leave, without your "bountiful" intervention.

I further gather that whatever you think or believe is "absolutely right". While everything I think or believe is completely wrong. That's a bit overbearing, don't cha think? (Of course you don't). Maybe a bit too presumptuous, over the top, self serving, you pick one. I'd call it manifestation of, "Dunning and Kruger syndrome". But then, what the heck do I know?

Would you believe I was just over at MSNBC, (where you'd expect me to be), and they ran a clip where even Fox was turning on trimp about his >personal crypto scam<. MSNBC ran a dozen clips of trimp calling crypto a "scam". Then, all of a sudden, he's elected and issues on of his own. :confused:

But that's OK right? Why shouldn't the POTUS be allowed to use the office for his personal gain? A and why shouldn't Musk be allowed to hire H1-Bs? I think it's wrong, but what the heck do I know?

BTW, this "uber leftie" was a registered Republican for about 40 years. I only switched to Democrat because I didn't have any voice in local politics. Philly hasn't had a
Republican mayor in over half a century. Now, I least can vote in the primary for the eventual mayor. More stupid on my part, I suppose.

I going to ask you one more time, please run along, and condescend to someone else.

The result of my most recent (25 years ago, not in school), IQ test can back with me listed as "above average intelligence" But I'm sure, you know better. I'm also sure that'll claim that, "whatever I can score, you can score better". It's in your nature.

Just to keep this on topic, "it's a 'bug' my a**", there's a dictator in the woodpile".
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There is sooo much fun to be had here. Alas, the TS mods would not allow it. So let's just call it good by saying whatever nonsense people think happened on Facebook is matched only by the kind of thing shown just above: Laughable, amusing and ultimately harmless.
 
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