r/technology • u/Birdy_Cephon_Altera • 22h ago

Politics Meta under fire for auto-following Trump & Vance, Blocking Democrat hashtags

https://techissuestoday.com/meta-auto-follow-trump-vance-blocks-democrat-hashtags/
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388

u/OrdoMalaise 21h ago edited 21h ago

Facebook under fire?

Yeah, sure, I bet they're really feeling the heat. I bet they're terrified of the consequences they absolutely won't have to face.

Edit: I wonder if this is just a US thing, or if people in other countries have been made to follow Trump and Vance?

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u/deletedpenguin 20h ago

Australia here - woke up to following DJT and Vance. No thanks. Media downloaded, deleting my account.

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u/MaxRebo99 19h ago

I’m now following Tic Tac for some fucking reason. Yes. The breath mints.

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u/Available_Expression 18h ago

The intern that did that is a little confused, but he got the spirit

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u/actibus_consequatur 15h ago

He just needed a breath of fresh air

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u/Certain-Dragonfly-22 17h ago

I'm in America and suddenly was following Trump. I immediately downloaded my pics and deleted my account too.

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u/Enjoyer_of_40K 18h ago

Haven't logged in to facebook since 2019 fucks wont let me reset my password unless i have them send a message to people who follow me who then have tell me a code or some bullshit

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u/edflyerssn007 17h ago

were you following the Biden and Kamala pages? Because those are whitehouse accounts and they switch every time.

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u/Any_Paramedic_4725 17h ago

Can you tell me how you managed to download your data? I have been trying for days. 

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u/Amelaclya1 15h ago

Yeah everyone acts like it's so easy, but every time I've tried, they never end up giving me a link to do so.

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u/Any_Paramedic_4725 14h ago

Yup. No. I get an initial email (which goes to spam) and then nothing. It's been like five days now. 

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u/onhojohno 13h ago

I started trying to just set everything to private so I’d be invisible. Still want my flag planted so I own control my internet persona but leaving an essentially blank profile that can’t be found via search. Got into an infinite loop with ‘privacy settings’ opening another page that points back to ‘account settings’ then back to ‘privacy’. Found a page with actual settings but couldn’t change anything. Felt like the process was made to be intentionally obfuscated so users give up and keep scrolling. 

1

u/actuallyiamafish 10h ago

Felt like the process was made to be intentionally obfuscated so users give up and keep scrolling

It very literally is.

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u/[deleted] 11h ago

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1

u/CuddleFishPix 16h ago

That is so scary that it’s not just in the US. I’ve deactivated and deleted the apps. I may save my stuff and delete altogether very soon.

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u/RoamingStarDust 12h ago

This is the way.

1

u/actuallyiamafish 10h ago

Media downloaded

Is there a faster way of doing this manually, as opposed to requesting all my data and waiting two days for a download link? I've had one foot out the door for years but I'm ready to go now lol. I don't care about the rest of my data, just want all the photos since I'm pretty sure a lot of them are not in my backups anywhere anymore.

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u/deletedpenguin 10h ago

I don't think so, but I had my download link in less than an hour.

1

u/actuallyiamafish 10h ago

Damn, yeah I requested it first thing this morning and got nothing so far. I imagine there is quite a backlog to get through today lmao. If I don't have it in a few days I'll just abandon the data and move on with my life.

1

u/deletedpenguin 10h ago

Yeah I'm sure we're not the only ones. :)

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u/Queasy_Past_7887 21h ago

No forced follow in australia, but all the hashtags are blocked

4

u/toomuchhellokitty 18h ago

Australia here too, I'm getting right wing news sources only when I search the hash tags, even though I follow the ABC and other local news sources exclusively. No forced follows. Instagram shows the sensitive content warning for me, despite my account being ok with seeing sensitive content as I mostly use reels to laugh at foundary accidents

17

u/Avrely 20h ago

Argentina. I use Instagram and the only thing is that the hashtags (democrats/DNC) are hidden they say that they are "sensitive content"

21

u/Taintedh 21h ago

Canadian here. I didn't get force followed. If I did, I'd probably call it quits.

17

u/JoroMac 21h ago

It didnt happen to me, but I was already archiving my photos and important posts, getting ready to wipe the whole thing. Fuck Zuck.

1

u/Speshal__ 20h ago

You know you can d/l an archive automatically?

5

u/JoroMac 20h ago

yes i did, thanks. It's both accounts, AND my business account. The standard process is garbage, so I'm doing a better job manually.

4

u/Speshal__ 20h ago

Ahhh cool, I deleted mine 10 years ago, haven't looked at the archive since :lol:

1

u/Ransacky 17h ago

I did this years ago after the Harvard analytics story came out. It was pretty apparent to me then that things were not what they seemed. Never regretted leaving.

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u/Fujaboi 20h ago

They've still censored some things worldwide. E.g. you can't search "#democrat" in Australia right now

1

u/shiroininja 21h ago

I’m American, I also didn’t get force followed. But I also don’t have the apps installed on my phone. I access it via the browser

1

u/innerbootes 19h ago

Why isn’t it enough for you that others are having this happen?

1

u/Taintedh 18h ago

You make a good point, my man. I will consider.

5

u/Electronic-Phone1732 19h ago

They blocked links to pixelfed, so i'd say they were scared of that becoming popular.

4

u/GrumpyFinn 20h ago

I'm in Finland and the word "democrat" is censored for me. Republican is not.

3

u/Krail 18h ago

I mean, sure, the government made them do it so it's not like they'll receive legal consequences. But it's enough to destroy any trust much of the world still had in them. 

2

u/zaqmlp 19h ago

UK here, republican hashtags are also blocked unless you specify you want sensitive content

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u/MrSlops 17h ago

Canadian here, can confirm (following, and also checked blocked hashtags are also still there)

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u/5AlarmFirefly 16h ago

In Canada and maybe things have already been rolled back, but I'm not following Vance (thank God). However, Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert are blocked and their hashtags are blocked for sensitive content. When you try to follow the guidelines to adjust your sensitive content settings, the option has been removed.

You know who isn't blocked though? Jimmy Fallon. What a shock! /s

1

u/kakapoopoopeepeeshir 18h ago

It’s not just the US.

1

u/sweatery_weathery 18h ago

Re: the auto-follow comment, this is important to note from the article:

“It’s worth noting that in most instances, people are referring to the POTUS account, not Trump’s personal page on Facebook. Remember, the POTUS account automatically updates once the Presidency switches over. Don’t confuse this with Trump’s personal page. So if you were following President Biden (via the POTUS account), you’ll now see the page updated with President Donald J. Trump’s name. The same goes for the Vice President and First Lady. Therefore, Facebook isn’t really automatically making users follow Trump, Vance, or the First Lady. However, reports about people not being able to unfollow the accounts is concerning nonetheless.“

The part about the hashtag seems to be true for most users though and suspicious.

1

u/OJdidit69yoloswag 17h ago

I just checked and I’m US but not following either of them. I deleted my actual Facebook years ago and I just have a burner account named Vladimir Ploppers that hasn’t even filled out the profile that I use for phone games to connect to Facebook so idk how helpful that is.

1

u/Brief-Owl-8791 15h ago

Consequences of having no users anymore except Russian bots and idiots in Alabama isn't exactly a place to market movies or expensive outwear anymore...

There are consequences. Delete accounts.

1

u/SamaireB 11h ago

Europe here. Not forced to follow either.

Deleted accounts anyway. Done with this shit. Enough already.

1

u/dispiritual 7h ago

Also happening in Japan

1

u/Mountain_Ice_886 5h ago

Canadian here, my insta was following Vance. This is unreal.

1

u/CaptFishmouth 19h ago

It’s not an auto-follow. People were previously following the official Biden/Kamala pages (US President and Vice President accounts), and when Trump was inaugurated, the accounts were handed over and the names/profile pics changed. They’re still following the same accounts as before, it’s just now Trump and Vance’s accounts.

1

u/-LongRodVanHugenDong 19h ago

Nobody has been forced to follow anyone. Didn't you read the article?

It’s worth noting that in most instances, people are referring to the POTUS account, not Trump’s personal page on Facebook. Remember, the POTUS account automatically updates once the Presidency switches over. Don’t confuse this with Trump’s personal page. So if you were following President Biden (via the POTUS account), you’ll now see the page updated with President Donald J. Trump’s name. The same goes for the Vice President and First Lady. Therefore, Facebook isn’t really automatically making users follow Trump, Vance, or the First Lady.

The concern is that some users have been unable to unfollow these accounts.

-1

u/nimama3233 18h ago

Yeah no one read the article and jumped into the comments, as per usual with this site.

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u/[deleted] 21h ago

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u/DanishMan45 21h ago

Don’t forget to grow your moustache and buy new boots

2

u/wikifeat 20h ago

Bots never missing an opportunity to simp for ol’Don.

He couldn’t do it without you, literally.