If you were surprised to see yourself suddenly following President Donald Trump on Instagram and Facebook this week, it’s not because Meta forced you to, the social media company says.

Handing over control of the official presidential and vice presidential social media accounts has become a standard part of the transition process.

Meta, the company which owns social media networks Facebook and Instagram, has denied forcing users to follow official accounts belonging to senior figures in the new Trump administration.Some users of the platforms had complained following Donald Trump's inauguration on Monday that they had "automatically" been made to follow the new president,