Meta’s AI chatbot failed to correctly identify the new president of the United States, leading to urgent corrective measures. The chatbot continued to state that Joe Biden was the current president, even after Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20, 2025. This prompted Meta to initiate an emergency troubleshooting process, known as a SEV, to address the issue. According to a source, the problem was raised to an urgent status, requiring immediate attention.
Meta spokesperson Daniel Roberts acknowledged that generative AI systems sometimes return outdated results but stated that they are working to improve their features. This issue was part of a series of emergency procedures within Meta related to the U.S. presidential transition, including incidents of politicized shifts on its platforms.
Meta also faced criticism over its handling of user interactions with official White House accounts. Some users were forced to re-follow profiles of Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and First Lady Melania Trump despite previously unfollowing them. The issue occurred during the standard transfer of social media accounts after the presidential change, causing a system error that logged unfollow requests incorrectly.
In another incident, Instagram blocked searches for hashtags like #Democrat and #Democrats for some users, while allowing searches for #Republican without issue. Meta acknowledged the problem and clarified that it affected multiple hashtags, not just those associated with the left.
These technical difficulties come as Meta implements changes to strengthen its relationship with the new administration, including leadership reshuffles and the cancellation of its U.S. fact-checking program.
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