US billionaire Elon Musk’s X erupted in uproar after the rollout of a feature revealing an account’s location.
The change exposed what users described yesterday as “global troll farms” and influence operations on the platform – including in support of US President Donald Trump, AFP reported.
Countless diehard MAGA (Make America Great Again) accounts that promote an “America First” ideology on X have been exposed as originating from far-flung locations such as Thailand, Nigeria and Eastern Europe, according to UK news outlet The Daily Mail.
X’s head of product Nikita Bier launched the feature over the weekend of November 22-23, allowing users “to see the country or region where an account is based”.
That was a bid to boost transparency on a platform that tech experts say is rife with disinformation, AFP said.
“This is an important first step to securing the integrity of the global town square,” Bier wrote on X.
The launch triggered a wave of online sleuthing.Almost immediately, the platform was flooded with posts flagging dozens of right-wing internet personalities – promoters of MAGA or “America First” political slogans – whose location data showed they were based in other countries.
“Why are so many MAGA influencers from outside the US? It’s almost as if they are working for foreign governments,” liberal influencer Ed Krassenstein wrote in an X post yesterday.
The information has unearthed a dark underbelly of the MAGA movement, as high-profile social media accounts promoting Trump have been exposed as foreign actors, according to The Daily Mail.
“This is easily one of the greatest days on this platform,” outspoken Democrat commentator Harry Sisson wrote on X.
“Seeing all of these MAGA accounts get exposed as foreign actors trying to destroy the United States is a complete vindication of Democrats, like myself and many on here, who have been warning about this.”
The account titled “America First” with more than 67,000 followers, which constantly shares content about Trump, Erika Kirk, Karoline Leavitt and the broader MAGA movement, has been exposed for being based in Bangladesh.
Since the update, the majority of posts on the account now carry an X warning which reads: “The above account is based in Bangladesh and is trying to mislead people into thinking he is from the USA and a Trump supporter.”
The feature also seemed to vindicate researchers who warned during last year’s US presidential election that a network of MAGA accounts – posing as “Trump-supporting independent women” and using stolen photos of European models and influencers – was operating overseas, AFP reported.
“X’s new account info showed many of these ‘American’ women were actually based in Thailand, with some tied to Myanmar,” said Benjamin Strick, the London-based director of investigations at the Centre for Information Resilience.
“Before this change we could show these profiles were fake but we had almost no visibility on where they were run from and often had to rely on ‘slip ups’ posted by the accounts, time posting patterns and irregularities in language,” he said.
“Now we can see that many of the accounts in this specific network are linked to Southeast Asia, which brings us closer to understanding who might be behind them,” Strick added.
Another high profile account, “@1776General_” describes itself as a “constitutionalist, patriot and ethnically American” but the account has now been traced back to Turkey, according to The Daily Mail.
“I work in international business. I’m currently working in Turkey on a contract,” the owner of the account claimed.
MAGANationX, which boasts almost 400,000 followers and describes himself as a “Patriot Voice for We The People”, has been traced back to Eastern Europe, according to the metadata.
Similarly, IvankaNews – a fan account for Trump’s eldest daughter – appears to be operated out of Nigeria, while the Dark MAGA account is posting from Thailand.
The MAGA Beacon account has since been disabled but was posting from south Asia.
Conservative commentator Matt Walsh slammed the accounts that have now been exposed, writing: “If you aren’t from this country: We don’t care what you think about American politics. We don’t care what you think about American culture. We don’t care what you think about American elections.
“Your grift is over. Focus on your own problems.”
Reflecting a hyperpolarised political climate, some right-wing personalities also pointed fingers at left-wing users seemingly posting from suspicious locations, AFP reported.
X, though, cautioned that the location data “may not be accurate and can change periodically”. When users clicked on an account’s location, a pop up noted: “The country or region that an account is based can be impacted by recent travel or temporary relocation.
“Some users may also be connected via a VPN that can mask their real location.
“There are a few rough edges that will be resolved by Tuesday [today],” Bier wrote after the feature’s launch.
Late on November 23, Bier said an “upgrade” was upcoming that will ensure “accuracy will be nearly 99.99 per cent”.
Some users criticised the launch, warning that it could expose the locations of dissidents and protestors in autocratic States.
Bier, though, said that for users in countries “where speech has penalties”, the feature includes privacy toggles that reveal only the region.
Soon after the launch, some apparent imposter accounts with vast followings were suddenly taken down without any explanation.
Another X handle posing as a fan account for Ivanka Trump, was suspended after users noted that its location was listed as Nigeria.
The account, which had amassed more than 1 million followers, regularly posted pro-Trump content as well as Islamophobic and anti-immigration messages.
X did not respond to AFP‘s request for comment on the suspension.
Meanwhile, accounts posing as sources of firsthand information out of Gaza have also been exposed and Scottish Nationalist accounts agitating for the break-up of the UK have been traced back to Iran, according to The Daily Mail.
Motasm A Dalloul, who describes himself as a ‘Gaza-based journalist’ and has a link to his PayPal account to support his work, made his account in 2011 and is based in Poland, according to the X update.
He railed against the information in his profile’s metadata, sharing a video that he claims is from the ground in Gaza, although some critics questioned whether it had been digitally altered.
And the Times of Gaza account, which boasts almost 1 million followers, has been traced back to “East Asia and the Pacific”, X now states.
Amy Bruckman, a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, told AFP the new feature “shines a light on a fundamental problem with social media today: Paid actors are deliberately inflaming difficult issues because controversy attracts attention.
“It’s a difficult situation and I believe we need more trustworthy platforms that don’t allow people to behave badly.”
In October, X laid off half of its engineering team responsible for fighting influence operations, spam and illegal content on the platform, reflecting a push to replace staff with artificial intelligence, US-based tech news outlet The Information reported on November 23.
