You wake up, scroll through your Instagram feed, and there he is. Not a meme, not a celebrity you actually like, but the official account of the President of the United States. You're 100% sure you never hit that "follow" button. In fact, maybe you're the type of person who stays as far away from political social media as humanly possible.
So why is your phone gaslighting you?
The "Instagram automatically following POTUS" phenomenon isn't a new glitch, but it feels like a personal violation every time it happens during a transition of power. It’s one of those weird digital handovers that makes people scream about "shadow bans" and "platform bias," but the reality is actually a mix of boring bureaucracy and some pretty annoying technical choices by Meta.
How Does the Auto-Follow Actually Work?
Basically, when a new administration takes over, Meta (the parent company of Instagram and Facebook) treats the @POTUS handle like a digital baton.
They don't just delete the old account and make a new one from scratch. Instead, they archive the previous president's posts—usually moving them to a handle like @POTUS45 or @POTUS46—and then wipe the main @POTUS profile clean for the new occupant.
Here is where it gets sticky: Meta usually migrates the followers.
If you followed the official President of the United States account back in 2022 to keep up with Joe Biden, you didn't just follow a man; you followed the office. When the keys to the White House changed hands in January 2025, you were technically still following the "office," which now belonged to Donald Trump.
It feels like you've been "forced" to follow someone new, but in the eyes of the database, you're just still subscribed to the same serial number.
Why some people claim they "never followed" anyone
This is the part that drives people crazy. You’ll see thousands of posts on Threads or X from users swearing they never followed any government account in their lives.
Are they lying? Probably not.
There are a few ways this happens without you realizing it. Sometimes, years ago, you might have liked a single official White House post that was cross-promoted, or perhaps you followed an account like @WhiteHouse or @VP during a specific event and totally forgot about it. When the transition hits, the notification of a "new" post from an account you don't recognize triggers that "Wait, who is this?" reaction.
Another factor is the "mirroring" process. During previous transitions, Meta has been known to duplicate follower lists from one official branch to another to ensure the new administration has the same reach as the old one. If you followed the First Lady, you might suddenly find yourself following the President too.
The 2025 Transition Friction
The most recent handover in January 2025 was particularly messy. Users like Gracie Abrams and Demi Lovato publicly complained that they had to unfollow the @POTUS and @VP accounts multiple times because they kept "re-following" themselves.
Meta’s spokesperson, Andy Stone, had to come out and explain that they weren't "forcing" follows. He basically said it was a technical delay. When millions of people try to unfollow the same account at the exact same second—right after a high-profile inauguration—the servers get a little overwhelmed.
Think of it like a digital traffic jam. You hit "unfollow," the request goes into a massive queue, and because the account is currently being "migrated" or updated by the system, your request might get bounced or delayed. You refresh, and it looks like you're following them again.
It's super frustrating. Honestly, it looks suspicious as hell. But from a dev perspective, it's usually just a massive cache issue or a database sync error happening under the weight of 100 million active users all doing the same thing.
Different Platforms, Different Rules
It’s worth noting that not every social media giant plays by the same rules.
- X (formerly Twitter): Back in 2021, they did things differently. When Biden took over from Trump, they actually reset the
@POTUSfollower count to zero. Everyone had to opt-in again. This prevented the "forced follow" complaints but obviously made it harder for the new admin to reach people quickly. - Meta (Instagram/Facebook): They prefer the "continuity" model. They believe that if you want to hear from the President, you want to hear from the President, regardless of who is sitting in the Oval Office.
- Threads: Since it’s tied to your Instagram identity, the follow-transfer usually happens there simultaneously.
Is It a "Glitch" or a Feature?
Whether you call it a "standard procedure" (Meta’s term) or "digital 1984" (the internet’s term), the practice of transferring followers is a deliberate design choice.
The government wants to ensure that emergency broadcasts, policy updates, and official statements reach the widest possible audience immediately. If they had to rebuild a following of 30 million people from scratch every four years, they’d lose the ability to communicate with a huge chunk of the country during the most critical days of a new term.
But for the user who just wants to see cat photos and sourdough starters? It feels like an intrusion.
What can you do if it happens to you?
If you find yourself following an account you don't want, the fix is theoretically simple, though it might take a couple of tries during a busy transition week.
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- Don't just unfollow; block. If the account keeps reappearing in your "following" list due to a sync error, blocking it usually breaks the link more effectively than a simple unfollow.
- Check your "Following" list manually. Don't just rely on what shows up in your feed. Go to your profile, tap your following count, and search for "POTUS," "WhiteHouse," or "VP."
- Wait 24 hours. If it’s a server-side delay, your unfollow request will eventually process. Doing it ten times in a row might actually make the "spam" filters ignore your request.
Basically, keep an eye on your settings. Digital transitions are never as clean as the ones on TV, and in the world of big tech, your "follow" is often treated as an asset belonging to the handle, not a personal choice belonging to you.
The next time a major office changes hands, expect your feed to get a little political again, whether you asked for it or not. The best way to handle it is to stay proactive with your privacy settings and remember that "following the office" is the default setting for most of these platforms.
If you're seeing other weird behavior on your feed—like an influx of political ads or "suggested" posts from candidates—check your "Ad Topics" and "Content Preferences" in the Instagram settings menu. You can actually "Limit" political content there, which helps keep the algorithm from shoving those official posts back into your face even after you've unfollowed.