The introduction of a new location feature on Elon Musk’s social media app X appears to have revealed that dozens of MAGA-branded accounts are actually based outside of the US.
Users were quick to spot that several right-wing influencer accounts purporting to be American are actually shown to be situated in places like Russia, Pakistan and Nigeria. But while foreign influence campaigns have plagued the platform in recent years, there appears to be significant issues with X’s new transparency tool.
Shortly after launching the new ‘About This Account’ feature over the weekend, X acknowledged that there were “a few rough edges” and pledged to fix them by Tuesday.
The ‘About This Account’ tool offers information about where an account is based, with anyone now able to see the country or region of users by tapping on the signup date on their profile.
It also shows how often an account has changed their username, as well as how they downloaded the social media app.
X said the new feature was “an important first step to securing the integrity of the global town square” by improving transparency and allowing users to verify the authenticity of the content they see on the platform.
It appeared to reveal that one prominent account that uses the handle ‘MAGA Nation’, which has nearly 400,000 followers, is apparently located in Eastern Europe. Another account with the username ‘UltraMAGA Trump 2028’ was shown to be based in Nigeria. The account has since been suspended.
“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,” wrote Democratic influencer Harry Sisson.
Left-wing influencer Micah Erfan wrote: “This is total Armageddon for the online right. It’s looking like half of their large accounts were foreigners posing as Americans all along.”
Yet issues with the feature may have arisen from people using tools like virtual private networks (VPNs), which spoof the location of a user’s device.
There were several clear inaccuracies with the new feature, with users also noting that several prominent accounts showed the wrong information.
It claims that US internet personality Hank Green is based in Japan, while Massachusetts-based software maker Avid Pro Tools is shown to be located in Spain.
Shortly after it launched, X removed the registration country of user profiles due to the data “not being 100 per cent” for old accounts.
“There are a few rough edges that will be resolved by Tuesday,” Nikita Bier, the company’s head of product, wrote in a post.
“If any data is incorrect, it will be updated periodically based on the best available information.”
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