Technical fault or Informed decision? Meta is facing operational issues in its AI chatbot and social media services.
What happened?
Meta’s AI chatbot mistakenly identified Joe Biden as the current U.S. president, even though Donald Trump had been inaugurated as 47th U.S. president on January 20, 2025.
The contradiction:
The chatbot acknowledged Trump as the new president in one part of its response but continued to state that Biden was president, showing confusion.
The Meta’s Response?
Meta classified this as a “SEV” (site event), an internal emergency protocol for fixing critical issues. The frequent SEV incidents suggest that Meta may not have robust systems in place for managing predictable transitions, like a presidential inauguration or a natural event.
Repeated Incidents:
Well, this is not the first time.Their repeated and (same pattern mistakes) have raised eyebrows and concerns as well.
Hashtag Search Disruptions
Instagram users experienced difficulties searching for hashtags like #Democrat and #Democrats, while Republican-associated hashtags functioned normally.
Forcing Follows:
Users reported being automatically re-followed to Trump-related accounts (Trump, VP JD Vance, and Melania Trump) on Facebook and Instagram after previously unfollowing them. It infringes on user autonomy, a foundational principle of social media trust. While they attributed it to technical errors.
Political Biases?
Social media experts raised concerns about Meta’s handling of these issues, especially given the political sensitivity of the U.S. presidential transition.
Changes at Meta: Recently, CEO Mark Zuckerberg implemented several changes to improve relations with the incoming Trump administration, including:
- Ending the U.S. fact-checking program.
- Appointing Republican Joel Kaplan as chief global affairs officer.
- Adding a Trump ally to Meta’s board.
- Ending diversity programs.
Meta’s credibility, unbiasedness, transparency, and reliability of its AI and social media services are at great risk. If these repeats are not solved early on. And the signs of biases are found frequently. It will lose Meta fans as well as damage Meta’s reputation for sure.