X's new location feature exposes political accounts based outside the U.S.
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A new feature on Elon Musk's social media platform X revealed that some prominent political accounts, including purported MAGA fans with thousands of followers, are seemingly being run from outside the U.S.
The big picture: The feature exposes what intelligence officials and cybersecurity experts have long warned about: How inauthentic social media accounts can drive foreign influence campaigns.
- The accounts could also be motivated by X's revenue sharing program for large content creators.
Driving the news: Despite the American flag in its name and focus on the "Trump movement & American politics," an account sharing pro-Trump content to over 50,000 followers appears to be based in Nigeria and was connected via the "Nigeria App Store."
- An account with the username @American appears to be based in Pakistan.
- Several accounts that claimed to be Trump-supporting women with hashtags like "#MAGA" and "#Patriots" in their bios are actually based in Thailand, digital investigator Benjamin Strick pointed out. Several of those accounts appear to have since been taken down.
- An account promising insight on border czar Tom Homan's work is seemingly based in Eastern Europe. And another claiming to be the "Biggest Ivanka (News) Fanpage on X" appears to be connected via the Nigeria App Store.
State of play: The locations were revealed by X's "About This Account" feature, which displays where an account is based, with the disclaimer that the country or region can be impacted by "recent travel or temporary relocation."
- The update was first announced in October by X's head of product Nikita Bier, who signaled the change was part of a broader push for users to verify the authenticity of content they were encountering on the platform.
- X did not respond to Axios' request for comment.
Catch up quick: Announcing the global rollout of the feature Saturday, Bier described it as an "important first step to securing the integrity of the global town square."
- He noted that for those posting from countries with limited freedom of speech, "privacy toggles" were built in to show only their region.
- But soon after the feature launched, X removed information about where accounts were created. Bier said there were still a "few rough edges" that would be resolved by Tuesday and said the registration country data was "not 100% for old accounts."
Friction point: Even the Department of Homeland Security was sucked into the frenzy over what Bier said was "misinformation" spread online that the department's account was based in Israel.
- "I can't believe we have to say this, but this account has only ever been run and operated from the United States," a post from the DHS account read. "Screenshots are easy to forge, videos are easy to manipulate."
The bottom line: Evolving AI-generated disinformation has emerged as a key weapon supercharging the foreign influence arsenal, making it increasingly difficult for users to detect the authenticity of what they're seeing, liking and sharing.
- Amid the weekend chaos triggered by the feature, Bier lamented, "I need a drink."
Go deeper: Exclusive: AI-powered disinformation targets Ukraine
