'About This Account' Feature On Elon Musk's X Exposes High Profile Non-American Users

Elon Musk’s social media platform X has launched a new “About This Account” feature that reveals the geographic location of user accounts, leading to widespread revelations that numerous high-profile left-wing, pro-Israel and Democrat Party-associated accounts are based outside the United States, including in Nigeria, India, Eastern Europe, and Bangladesh.

While the feature was intended to increase transparency and authenticity, it has sparked a major controversy by exposing that many accounts portraying themselves as American activists are actually operated by foreign users, raising concerns about foreign influence operations and the monetization of political outrage.

The feature, which shows where an account was created, when it joined, username changes, and app download method, was briefly removed hours after launch, fueling speculation about a reaction to the political fallout, though it has since been reinstated.

X officials, including product head Nikita Bier, acknowledged the feature has “a few rough edges” and that VPN use can distort location data, but emphasized the goal is to help users verify content authenticity.

The feature was rolled out on Friday, and within hours, users began uncovering that prominent left-wing accounts were based overseas.

The exposure has led to accusations that these accounts are part of a global disinformation economy, where foreign nationals profit from generating engagement through divisive U.S. anti-conservative political content.

While some accounts claimed to be from the U.S., X data showed origins in countries like Bangladesh, India, and the Philippines, with one anti-immigration account traced to Bangladesh and a network of “progressive independent women” found to be based in Thailand..

The revelations have prompted political debate, with right-wing influencers calling it a “complete vindication” of long-standing warnings about foreign interference.

The feature remains active, though concerns persist about the accuracy of location data as privacy experts argue that changing user' locations due to travel, and the use of VPN may render the feature unreliable.