Are you suddenly following Second Lady Usha Vance on Instagram? Here's why.

It's not as sinister as you think.
 By 
Christianna Silva
 on 
US Second Lady Usha Vance arrives at the US military's Pituffik Space Base on March 28, 2025 in Pituffik, Greenland. The itinerary for the visit was scaled back after a plan for a more extensive trip drew criticism from officials in Greenland and Denmark, which controls foreign and defence policy of the semiautonomous territory.
Why you're following Second Lady Usha Vance on Instagram. Credit: Photo by Jim Watson - Pool / Getty Images

If you're one of the 1.2 million people who followed Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff on Instagram, you might notice that you're now following Second Lady Usha Vance. No need to worry — it wasn't some odd glitch or a political conspiracy, it's just how Instagram works.

As of Wednesday, Meta began combining the two Instagram accounts. So if you followed Kamala Harris's husband at @secondgentleman46archive, you'll now be following JD Vance's wife at @SLOTUS. Emhoff's account was archived by the government, so you'll only see six photos on the account now, and they're all courtesy of Usha Vance.

"Following the White House creating an account for the Second Lady, we are transitioning the Second Gentleman account to @SLOTUS," a Meta spokesperson said in a statement to TechCrunch. "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."


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This isn't the first time a controversy over political follower counts has erupted as a result of Meta's routine operations. Each time a new politician is elected to office, the official social media accounts for the White House are transferred to the new administration. In January, this meant that if you were following President Joe Biden, you'd then be following President Donald Trump — and the same goes for Vice President JD Vance and First Lady Melania Trump. Now, that's going into effect for the Second Lady.

Topics Instagram

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Christianna Silva
Senior Culture Reporter

Christianna Silva is a senior culture reporter covering social platforms and the creator economy, with a focus on the intersection of social media, politics, and the economic systems that govern us. Since joining Mashable in 2021, they have reported extensively on meme creators, content moderation, and the nature of online creation under capitalism.

Before joining Mashable, they worked as an editor at NPR and MTV News, a reporter at Teen Vogue and VICE News, and as a stablehand at a mini-horse farm. You can follow her on Bluesky @christiannaj.bsky.social and Instagram @christianna_j.

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