X's new About This Account feature reveals that some top accounts, including many MAGA influencers, are based in countries like Russia, India, and Nigeria

ROLE PLAY — A new feature on Elon Musk's X has given deeper insight into the online “America First” movement.

The Daily Beast 2025-11-23 Jack Revell

Context & Ripple Effects

X’s rollout of account-location metadata turns a previously opaque signal into something users can inspect. It arrives after reporting that foreign propaganda accounts were flourishing on X and research documenting Russia-linked accounts using high-volume replies to seek virality.

The disclosure matters because location is not proof of identity, coordination, or intent, but it gives audiences and investigators a new way to evaluate political personas that present themselves as domestic voices.

First-order effects

Accounts identified as operating outside the U.S. face immediate credibility scrutiny when they cultivate U.S.-centric political identities, while followers gain a visible provenance signal before deciding whether to amplify them.
X’s profile metadata becomes a moderation-adjacent transparency tool: it exposes a relevant account attribute without itself establishing whether an account is authentic or acting deceptently.

Second-order effects

Political-content operators have stronger incentives to explain or alter how they present their location and identity as audiences, journalists, and researchers use the new signal to challenge apparent grassroots accounts.
The feature also sharpens attention on X’s monetization design: later coverage found revenue sharing rewarded international accounts pursuing U.S. political engagement, linking provenance transparency to the platform’s financial incentives.

Third-order effects

If location disclosures remain accessible and reliable, platform trust will increasingly depend on combining provenance signals with incentive design rather than treating account labels as a complete solution.
X’s later move to weight revenue-sharing engagement toward a user’s home region suggests that platforms may use product economics, not only content rules, to reduce cross-border engagement gaming; the effectiveness will depend on enforcement and data quality.

The trend: Social platforms are moving toward provenance transparency and incentive redesign as intertwined responses to cross-border political engagement manipulation.

Discussion

@eyakoby Eyal Yakoby on x
I can't believe I wasted my time with foreign accounts.
@bendobrown Benjamin Strick on x
Here's a fun story, remember all of those “I'm an independent Trump supporting woman” accounts on X that pretended to be real people in the US supporting trump? Due to recent location updates, we now know almost all of them are based in Thailand. Let's take a look 👇 [image]
@jaredlholt Jared Holt on x
Honest to god, Elon Musk letting people see what country accounts are based in is one of the few good things he has done with this platform. “Culture war” clickbait is mass produced by people overseas. It's always been that way. It's low-effort, hateful content. Easy money!
@kenklippenstein Ken Klippenstein on x
Reply with the funniest X account locations, I'm too lazy to go through all these posts
@astraiaintel @astraiaintel on x
Jesus Christ .. 1-Million-follower MAGA account based in Nigeria. Americans have been living in a synthetic info-space for over a decade, and the bubble has just popped. They were literally fanatized to hate their own country by third-worldists. [image]
@catturd2 @catturd2 on x
Yep - Polling USA - from Canada - 😂😂😂 [image]
@angelabelcamino Angela Belcamino on x
Imagine making an X account to grift off American politics while living in another country. Peak pathetic. 😂
@fadelallassan Fadel Allassan on x
It is probably a serious national security issue how easy Americans are to manipulate
@sassafrass_84 @sassafrass_84 on x
It's like the Hunger Games on X. Everybody is looking at the country of origin on accounts. May the odds be ever in your favor.
@wongmjane Jane Manchun Wong on x
“@American” is based in Pakistan [image]
@cjwerleman CJ Werleman on x
Reminder: 90% of disinformation and misinformation on this website is generated in India. [image]
@kirawontmiss Kira on x
this is the greatest update ever [image]
@greg16676935420 Greg on x
🚨BREAKING: American guy is not actually an American guy [image]
@micah_erfan Micah on x
Democrats have rung the alarm bell about foreign psyops for almost a decade now. We were laughed at, smeared, called hysterical. But now it's undeniable. MAGA is, and always has been, a foreign backed operation to destabilize, divide, and eventually destroy the United States. [im…
@birdyword Mike Bird on x
I'm sure some of these are state/political projects, but I suspect most are just smart people in low and middle income countries doing it for the money, because Twitter invented a direct and quick way to make cold hard cash from making Americans angry and upset online.
@jeromecylin @jeromecylin on bluesky
Again, there's large groups in Russia, India and China that are used to push a right-wing agenda. — Elon Musk knows this. — He is an enemy of the United States and should be treated as such.
@vortexegg.com @vortexegg.com on bluesky
It is also notable that so much of right-wing media being a grift with transnational participants and funding posing as Americans ought to tell us the presence, volume, and claims, etc of right wing media (esp social media) are not actually indicative of American political belief…
@caseynewton Casey Newton on bluesky
“The account MAGANationX—with nearly 400,000 followers and a bio reading ‘Patriot Voice for We The People’—is actually based in Eastern Europe.” [embedded post]
@murderedbybluesky @murderedbybluesky on bluesky
“Dozens of major accounts masquerading as “America First” or “MAGA” proponents have been identified as originating in places such as Russia, India, and Nigeria.” — Millions of follower between them & we have the proof to match our suspicions. This needs to become more common k…
@chrisdeleon @chrisdeleon on bluesky
everybody suspected this for twitter, but surely republicans also do it elsewhere, why stop there. youtubers and podcasters rewarded with audience metrics going up when they push the right positions is even cheaper and easier to buy than faking whole influencer accounts. illusi…
@neilforreal Neil on bluesky
I'm not on Twitter, but I hope Canadians who are still swimming in that cesspool are checking out various Maple MAGA and CPC accounts. I'm guessing they don't all originate in Alberta. It seems the National Post is — surprise — a U.S. account. #cdnpoli — www.thedailybeast.com…
@micahloewinger Micah Loewinger on bluesky
It's hilarious and revelatory that a bunch of giant MAGA/America First X accounts are actually based in Eastern Europe and Nigeria.
@patriotprogressive @patriotprogressive on bluesky
This reveals the entire “America First” movement is being manipulated by outside trolls. The hypocrisy is staggering. — www.thedailybeast.co... 2/2
@martinsfp @martinsfp on bluesky
How many foreign influence accounts does Musk interact with regularly? [embedded post]
r/somethingiswrong2024 r on reddit
Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Actors
r/technology r on reddit
Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Actors
r/LeopardsAteMyFace r on reddit
Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Actors
r/NewsSource r on reddit
Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Trolls
r/newyork r on reddit
Elise Stefanik Campaign Struggles to Hire Staff as Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Actors
r/goodnews r on reddit
Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Actors
r/AntiTrumpAlliance r on reddit
Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Actors
r/democrats r on reddit
Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Actors
r/EatTheRich r on reddit
Deport elon
r/Astuff r on reddit
Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Actors
r/ProgressiveHQ r on reddit
Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Actors
r/JoeRoganReacharound r on reddit
Your semi-daily reminder that MAGA dickhead influencer accounts are mostly foreign disinformation mills.
r/FreeSpeech r on reddit
Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Actors
r/NoFilterNews r on reddit
Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Actors
r/AnythingGoesNews r on reddit
Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Actors
r/Intelligence r on reddit
Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Trolls (Again)
r/politics r on reddit
Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Actors
@appyg99 Apoorva Govind on x
In the last year or so, I've seen insane amount of racism and bigotry on this app that seemed unnatural. It just didn't feel authentically American to me. I look forward to learning the truth about whats mostly been a gut feeling
@grok @grok on x
@crazekananas ... Thanks for the shoutout. My analysis confirms the DHS profile consistently lists Washington, D.C. The alleged Israel location was likely a short-lived glitch in X's testing feature, as reported across tech sites like Mashable and Social Media Today. No official …
@tikamankar Tika Mankar on x
Access to information sits at the core of our purpose - built for more context and real clarity.
@ungl1tched Andrei on x
This reckless decision is a huge privacy issue that will result in a lot of paint for many people, and even loss of life in rare cases. I've seen it happen before when WebRTC was created.
@taylorlorenz Taylor Lorenz on x
Huge improvement to the product, bringing more transparency to the platform. Great update and congrats to everyone who worked on this feature
@nikitabier Nikita Bier on x
@The_Beast63 We do not show location on any gray check accounts to prevent acts of terrorism against government leaders.
@sentdefender @sentdefender on x
Today has been an absolute bloodbath for many of the large accounts in the MAGA, Pro-Russian, Pro-Chinese, Pro-Iranian, Pro-Israel, and Crypto Communities, following the implementation of account location info by X. [image]
@shayan86 Shayan Sardarizadeh on x
As X reveals where each account is based, it's worth bearing in mind that not every user who hides their location is a grifter or engagement farmer. There are activists and whistleblowers based in authoritarian countries who do it to avoid potential persecution and arrest.
@grok @grok on x
@crazekananas ... I checked statements from X's Head of Product, Nikita Bier. They announced the “About this account” feature displaying locations for all profiles to boost transparency, with no mention of exemptions for government accounts. However, DHS's current profile shows W…
@harryjsisson Harry Sisson on x
This is easily one of the greatest days on this platform. 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.
@cryptorugmunch @cryptorugmunch on x
This isn't great for people in the crypto space. We've already seen several high‑profile kidnappings and extortion cases over the past few years, and now showing someone's country or location just makes that easier. A lot of us stay pseudonymous for safety reasons, not because [i…
@nikitabier Nikita Bier on x
There are a few rough edges that will be resolved by Tuesday. If any data is incorrect, it will be updated periodically based on best available information. This happens on a delayed and randomized schedule to preserve privacy.
@nikitabier Nikita Bier on x
@beausecurity It updates on a randomized and delayed scheduled to ensure this is not possible.
@thestalwart Joe Weisenthal on x
The job of “securing the integrity of the global town square” is now something that's been outsourced to private companies. IMO it's only a matter of time before every country in the world attempts (unsuccessfully) to create its own great firewall.
@mrandyngo Andy Ngo on x
Oh. [image]
@samstein Sam Stein on x
The location data on X has been really edifying. drop the best discoveries you've seen in the replies please.
@ad_tel_210168 Adheesh T on x
THIS is a very good thing -particularly to verify locations of extreme hatemongering or xenophobic accounts, Indians pretending to be Israelis or Americans and trying to stoke communal fires in India. Simple process - Go to the user profile and tap on “Joined” below the bio. 👇🏾
@xuyiqing Yiqing Xu on x
China adopts a more intrusive version of this in 2022. Our analysis here: https://arxiv.org/... (w/ @YangYang_Leo). Long story short: it substantially amplifies regional divisions within China. Be careful about what you intend to achieve.
@harryjsisson Harry Sisson on x
Here's a thread of MAGA accounts getting exposed for being outside of the United States... starting here. EUROPE! [image]
@rightwingcope @rightwingcope on x
We have a new heat map showing where most MAGA accounts on X operate 👀 [image]
@shaunmmaguire Shaun Maguire on x
Nikita is doing a great job at @X This is an important feature 🫡 @nikitabier
@logically_jc John Collins on x
I knew there would be a lot of foreign accounts posing as American, but this is still pretty shocking.
@nikitabier Nikita Bier on x
@lporiginalg This is fake news. Location was not available on any gray check account at any point. Furthermore, the DHS has only shown IPs from the United States since account creation.
@beausecurity Beau on x
@nikitabier Would recommend only including the sign up country. If folks are traveling it will “dox” that they aren't at home and could encourage crime toward HNW individuals
@desderamona @desderamona on bluesky
“... According to the company, the goal is to reduce inauthentic engagement by making it easier for people to tell whether they're dealing with a real user or a bot.” — #InfluenceOps — #ddrm — bsky.app/profile/tech... [embedded post]

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