X’s About This Account Exposes Foreign Trolls

24 Nov 2025

X’s new About This Account feature exposed that many of the most vociferous US‑focused, rage‑bait accounts aren’t actually located in the United States. Reporters and users quickly cataloged examples: a ULTRAMAGA account appearing to be based in Nigeria, a verified impersonation of Tom Homan traced to Eastern Europe, America_First0 apparently from Bangladesh, and a network of pro‑Trump “independent women” based in Thailand. Threads on the platform amplified lists of accounts that claim American identities but show foreign locations, and calls to police “fake” or “troll” accounts spread across the site. In response, X removed information about account creation locations and added disclaimers that travel, VPNs, and proxies can cause inaccurate location labels. The Verge notes that while some misattributions could be explained by those factors, the scale of foreign-based accounts makes that unlikely to account for the bulk of examples. Some accounts may be state‑sponsored influence operations (with Russia and China as plausible actors), while many others appear driven by monetization: even modest earnings from platform monetization can be significant in developing countries.

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