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X’s ‘About This Account’ Exposes Foreign Origins of Prominent Political Profiles

X promises accuracy improvements following user reports that prominent political and purportedly local accounts appear to be based overseas.

Overview

  • The new profile panel displays an account’s country or region, join date, and username changes, using IP-based signals rather than self-declared locations.
  • X acknowledged errors affecting some older accounts, briefly removed certain registration-country entries, and said a refreshed rollout with higher accuracy will return by Tuesday.
  • Users and researchers flagged numerous high‑visibility MAGA-branded profiles as operating from places such as Eastern Europe, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Nigeria, with some accounts subsequently suspended or deleted.
  • X cautioned that VPNs, travel, IP routing and legacy data can misstate locations, and it added privacy options that let users in risky jurisdictions show only a broader region.
  • Investigators say the disclosures illuminate suspected coordinated or monetized networks, including accounts posing as U.S. partisans or foreign journalists, highlighting ongoing concerns about influence operations on the platform.