X launched a new feature over the weekend publicly displaying users’ locations, sparking a wave of scrutiny about the provenance of political accounts.
The new feature displays the country or region an account is based in, as well as when and where it was created and how many times its username was changed. It was announced by Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, in a post on the social media site on Saturday.
“This is an important first step to securing the integrity of the global town square,” Mr. Bier said, adding that the platform was working on more ways for users to verify the authenticity of content on the platform.
For countries where freedom of speech is limited, users can choose only to show their region, Mr. Bier said. He added that location data will be updated “periodically,” on a “delayed and randomized schedule to preserve privacy.”
Mr. Bier said later on Saturday that a few “rough edges” were yet to be resolved. Information about where an account was created had been removed for some older accounts because the data was inaccurate, he said, adding that he hoped the information would be restored by Tuesday.
After the feature launched, online sleuths quickly used it to determine that some accounts which post content supporting President Trump and the MAGA movement and portray themselves as American patriots are not based in the United States, but instead, in countries in Asia and Africa.
One account called “MAGA NATION,” with nearly 400,000 followers which makes multiple posts a day, is based in Eastern Europe. Other similar accounts are based in places like Thailand, Nigeria and Bangladesh.
X has long struggled with a proliferation of fake and automated accounts spreading misinformation on the platform. Researchers have found that these bots have posted misinformation related to U.S. elections and candidates, the coronavirus pandemic and far-right conspiracy theories. Bots have been used by groups trying to foment discord in past elections in the United States and abroad.
After Elon Musk took over the platform in 2022, the site has experienced a surge in racist, antisemitic and other hateful speech, and foreign governments and operatives have spread divisive propaganda.
Even the Department of Homeland Security, on Sunday, weighed into the discussion amid speculation about where its X account was created.
“I can’t believe we have to say this, but this account has only ever been run and operated from the United States,” it posted.
Yan Zhuang is a Times reporter in Seoul who covers breaking news.
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