In a recent development, Meta has initiated the merging of Instagram accounts associated with the Second Lady of the United States, Usha Vance, and the former Second Gentleman, Doug Emhoff. This transition means that the 1.2 million followers of Emhoff’s archived account, @secondgentleman46archive, are now automatically following Usha Vance’s newly established account, @SLOTUS. As of now, the @SLOTUS account has approximately 66,000 followers.
A Meta spokesperson explained, Following the White House creating an account for the Second Lady, we are transitioning the Second Gentleman account to @SLOTUS. This is consistent with our process for presidential transitions and with the process we followed for the President, VP, FLOTUS, and The White House accounts earlier this year.
This procedure aligns with Meta’s standard practice during presidential transitions, where official White House social media accounts, along with their followers, are transferred to the incoming administration. For instance, when President Trump assumed office in January, many users found themselves unexpectedly following his official accounts on Facebook and Instagram. Meta clarified that this was part of the routine process of handing over White House social media accounts to the new administration.
The transition of followers to Usha Vance’s account is occurring now because the White House recently established the @SLOTUS account. The first post on this account is dated March 10, and currently, there is no official Facebook account for the Second Lady.
Users attempting to unfollow @SLOTUS on Instagram may experience delays. Meta has indicated that processing follow and unfollow requests during this transition period may take some time, likely due to the high volume of such requests.
Meta emphasizes that it does not auto-follow users to accounts without their consent. In these instances, the White House manages the official accounts, and Meta assists in facilitating the presidential transition.
While the transfer of White House social media accounts is a routine procedure every four years, it often leads to confusion among users. Many may not recall following official White House accounts, especially if they did so during the previous administration’s tenure. The change becomes more noticeable when a new administration, potentially from a different political party, takes over these accounts.
