They go by names like @TRUMP_ARMY or @MAGANationX, and their verified accounts proudly display portraits of President Donald Trump, voter rallies and American flags. And they constantly talk to their followers about US politics, appearing like ardent fans of the president.
But after an update to social media platform X over the weekend, it became clear that the owners of these accounts, like many others, are located in regions such as South Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe.
Elon Musk's X on Saturday introduced a feature that allows users to see where an account is located. Internet sleuths and experts quickly discovered that many popular accounts posting in support of the MAGA movement to thousands or hundreds of thousands of followers were based outside the United States, raising concerns about foreign influence in U.S. politics.
Researchers at NewsGuard, a firm that tracks online disinformation, identified several popular accounts allegedly run by Americans interested in politics that were instead based in Eastern Europe, Asia or Africa.
These accounts have been leading distributors of some misleading and polarizing claims about U.S. politics, including ones that said Democrats bribed moderators of the 2024 presidential debates.
Nikita Bir, head of product department X, announced on Saturday that the social media platform is introducing an “About This Account” tool that allows users to see the country or region in which the account is located. To find your account location, tap or click the signup date displayed on your profile.
“This is an important first step towards ensuring the integrity of the global city square. We plan to provide users with many more ways to verify the authenticity of the content they see on X,” Beer wrote.
In countries with punitive speech restrictions, the privacy tool on X allows account holders to show only their region rather than a specific country. For example, instead of India, the account might indicate that it is based in South Asia.
Beer said on Sunday that once the tool is updated, it will be 99.99% accurate, although this cannot be independently verified. For example, accounts may use a virtual private network, or VPN, to hide their true location. Some accounts receive a warning that location data may be inaccurate, either because the account is using a VPN or because some ISPs use proxies automatically, without any user action.
“Location data should always be used with caution,” said Alexios Mantzarlis, director of the Safety, Trust and Security Initiative at Cornell Tech and former director of the International Fact-Checking Network. “Its usefulness is probably at its peak now that it has just been exposed, and attackers are adapting. Meta has had this kind of information for some time now, and no one is suggesting that this is why misinformation was removed from Facebook.”
Some accounts supported slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk as well as President Donald Trump's children. Many accounts were decorated with US flags or contained comments suggesting they were American. For example, an account called “@BarronTNews_” appears to be located in “Eastern Europe (outside the EU)” even though its profile says “Mar A Lago.” The account, which has more than 580,000 followers, posted on Tuesday: “This is a 100% independent FAN account run by one guy who loves this country and supports President Trump with everything I have.”
through X
NewsGuard also found evidence that some X users are spreading misinformation about the location feature itself, falsely accusing some accounts of being run from abroad when in fact they are used by Americans. Investigators found several instances in which one user created fake screenshots that appeared to suggest the account was created overseas.
It is not always clear what the motives for messages are. While some of them may be government officials, it is likely that many are financially motivated and post comments, memes and videos to gain attention.
“For the most prominent accounts exposed this week, money is likely the main motivator,” Mantzarlis said. “This does not mean that X—as has been widely documented in previous work done by academic and non-profit organizations that have been attacked and defended—is not also a target for state actors.
Users were divided on the new ability to see account location information, with some questioning whether it had gone too far.
“Isn’t this an invasion of privacy?” One X user wrote. “No one should see this information.”
