this post was submitted on 25 Nov 2025
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A new feature meant to boost transparency on Elon Musk’s platform relies on data that researchers say can be inaccurate or easily spoofed.

Advocates for transparency on social media cheered this weekend when X, the app owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk, rolled out a new feature that disclosed what the company said were the country locations of accounts.

The feature appeared to unmask a number of accounts that were portraying themselves as belonging to Americans but in reality were based in countries such as India, Thailand and Bangladesh.

But by Monday, the effectiveness and accuracy of the feature were already in question, as security experts, social media researchers and two former X employees said the location information could be inaccurate or spoofed using widely available technology, such as virtual private networks (VPNs), to hide their locations.

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[–] cannedtuna@lemmy.world 53 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (1 children)

Well now that it got out in the open, I doubt troll accounts will get caught off guard like that again. At least not the smart / state sponsored ones

[–] TheFogan@programming.dev 2 points 1 hour ago

I mean if it's based on the time of creation it would to me that's the idea of it though. IE the troll accounts that have spent 5 years building up a following, the only way to salvage them if their creation location was bad, is to delete them and start a new one from a VPN in the country they are supposed to be from. At which point smart people are going to note "the wave of accounts made in 2025-2026 and note that timing".

Course unless Elon works to change that rule, not tie in the original country etc, or make a blue checkmark feature "anti-doxing" to protect your private information like country.

[–] paraphrand@lemmy.world 40 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

I don’t like how there’s a bunch of misinformation mixed into this whole situation. Lots of fake accounts got passed around as legit ones.

It almost feels like an exercise in sowing confusion and muddying the waters to me.

[–] EmpathicVagrant@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago

Absolutely. Release something to sow discord, while revealing truth. Confusion, acceleration, anger, fear.

[–] buddascrayon@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

Yeah Xwitter has shut the feature off temporarily so that the accounts that were exposed by it can set up VPNs and look like they totally come from the United States and not the countries that they were discovered to have been coming from.

[–] big_slap@lemmy.world 16 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

did not read the article ywt, but I have this pic floating around in a group chat im in, no idea if its true but lmao

collapsed inline media

[–] rainwall@piefed.social 7 points 16 hours ago (1 children)
[–] AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net -2 points 13 hours ago (1 children)
[–] DoYouNot@lemmy.world 8 points 13 hours ago

Snoops was unable to verify it. Do you have a source for that claim that it's real?

[–] Formfiller@lemmy.world 12 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (1 children)

bots. I wonder how many are here ?

[–] glitch1985@lemmy.world 4 points 12 hours ago (2 children)
[–] EmpathicVagrant@lemmy.world 4 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

This made me momentarily miss TOTALLYNOTROBOTS

[–] Infinite@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 hours ago

HAVE YOU PROCESSED UPGRADING YOUR TARGETING ALGORITHM TO INCREASE YOUR HIT RATIO?

[–] Little8Lost@lemmy.world 3 points 12 hours ago (1 children)
[–] glitch1985@lemmy.world 4 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

And then the guy says, "Well, it's a hell of an act. What do you call yourselves?" He says, "The Aristocrats."

[–] ProfessorPeregrine@reddthat.com 2 points 12 hours ago

Truly you are a connoisseur...

[–] ElectricAirship@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 19 hours ago

I think a feature like this should really be part of an internet transparency law...

[–] xc2215x@lemmy.world 3 points 19 hours ago

Glad Elon revealed so much.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 3 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Anyone have a theory for why he's doing this now?

[–] chuckd@lemmy.world 13 points 19 hours ago (4 children)

My theory: I doubt Musk had any hands on direct control in the decision. If he did, the feature would probably still be active. My guess is one of the developers quietly pushed the update because, looks around, reasons. It was reversed so quickly I have a feeling Musk was blindsided like most of us.

[–] Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip 11 points 14 hours ago

I bet, musk demanded a thing, was told it would be a bad idea, he fired that guy, the next guy just does what he says, musk is completely shocked that the entire movement telling him he's cool were just foreign psyops and he ordered it shut off. Fired the guy who listened to him, for good measure.

[–] Lemminary@lemmy.world 7 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

If he did, the feature would probably still be active.

I have a feeling he would never approve it to begin with.

[–] chuckd@lemmy.world 3 points 19 hours ago

Exactly my point. Once he found out about the change it was squashed.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 6 points 19 hours ago

Oh shit, I didn't realize they reversed it. That makes sense now.

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 2 points 13 hours ago

"oops I accidentally introduced a bug that caused it show up, my bad, I'll fix it riiiiiiiiiight after my break"

I say, it should be mandatory to show the country of origin on social media. Including if it’s via vpn