Meta has announced that it will begin combining the Instagram accounts of Usha Vance, the Second Lady of the United States, and Doug Emhoff, the former Second Gentleman of the United States, starting Wednesday. As a result, the 1.2 million followers of Emhoff's archived account, @secondgentleman46archive, will be transferred to Vance's new account, @SLOTUS, which currently has less than 66,000 followers.

This move is part of Meta's process for presidential transitions, which involves handing over White House social media accounts, including their followers, to the new administration when a new President takes office. According to a Meta spokesperson, this process is consistent with what was followed for the President, VP, FLOTUS, and The White House accounts earlier this year.

This is not the first time such a transition has caused confusion among users. When Trump took office in January, many users were surprised to find themselves following President Trump on Facebook and Instagram without explicitly requesting to do so. Meta explained at the time that this was a regular process, but it seems that users are still caught off guard by these account transitions.

Usha Vance is obtaining the former Second Gentleman's Instagram followers now because the White House only recently created her @SLOTUS account, according to Meta. The first post on the Second Lady's Instagram account is dated March 10th, and Meta says she does not have an official Facebook account at this time.

Users who try to unfollow @SLOTUS on Instagram may experience delays, as Meta says it may "take some time" to process follow and unfollow requests around the @SLOTUS account during this transition. This is likely due to the high volume of requests that flood Meta's systems during these account transitions.

Meta insists that it never forces users to "auto-follow" accounts without their consent. In this case, Meta says the White House itself controls these official accounts, and it's simply assisting them in the Presidential transition. However, this process can still be confusing for users, especially if they had forgotten they were following an official White House account in the first place.

These White House social media accounts change hands every four years, but they tend to create widespread confusion every time. The issue becomes more evident when the new administration, which may not be the party users voted for, takes over. As a result, users are left wondering why they are suddenly following accounts they didn't intentionally subscribe to.

Despite the controversy, Meta's process for presidential transitions is likely to continue, and users will need to be aware of these account changes to manage their social media feeds effectively. As the use of social media in politics continues to evolve, it will be important for platforms like Meta to balance the needs of official accounts with the preferences of their users.