Topline
A new update to X that shows the country or region where a user is based has revealed some popular accounts—many of which post wildly partisan support for President Donald Trump—aren’t even United States-based, though some claim to be American.
X began displaying a user’s country or region over the weekend. (Photo by Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
NurPhoto via Getty Images
Key Facts
X rolled out a new update over the weekend that displays a user’s location by clicking on the join date on their profile, and users can elect to have their location displayed either as a country or as a region.
Right-wing poster Ian Miles Cheong, who has previously admitted to his 1.2 million followers that he is not U.S.-based, is based in the United Arab Emirates, according to his X profile, and he has since slammed the update as a privacy violation.
Pro-Trump account with 1 million followers @IvankaNews_—which is not affiliated with Ivanka Trump—appears to be based out of Nigeria, even though the user comments almost exclusively on American politics and has claimed to have voted for Trump in previous posts (and the user admitted in a post Sunday “some of us living outside the USA genuinely support President Trump’s movement”).
An account called “MAGA NATION” with nearly 400,000 followers appears to be Eastern European, according to its X profile, though the account is dedicated to pro-Trump content and claimed to have voted for Republicans.
An account called “America First,” (67,000 followers) who said “I am a former liberal who voted Trump” in a post in May, is apparently based in Bangladesh, according to its X profile.
Screenshots circulating X claim Republicans Against Trump, an anti-Trump account with nearly 1 million followers, is Austria-based, though the account’s location now says United States with a disclaimer that it may be using a VPN to alter its location.
Some accounts that appear to have been outed as non-U.S. based no longer exist: NBC News reported an account called “Trump Is My President” was listed as Macedonia-based and is now deactivated, while an account called “ULTRAMAGA 🇺🇸 TRUMP🇺🇸2028,” which claimed to U.S.-based, was listed as African and is now suspended for unknown reasons.
Why Did X Implement The Location Update—and Is It Accurate?
Nikita Bier, head of product at X, announced the new update in a post on Saturday. He said displaying a user’s location is an “important first step to securing the integrity of the global town square,” a key branding goal under Elon Musk’s ownership. Bier said in another post the update has “a few rough edges that will be resolved by Tuesday,” and acknowledged the update was briefly shut off over the weekend because “the data was not 100% for old accounts.” The location feature includes a disclaimer that the “country or region that an account is based can be impacted by recent travel or temporary relocation,” and that the “data may not be accurate and can change periodically.” X displays another disclaimer for accounts that appear to use a VPN, or a virtual private network, which can mask a user’s IP address and allow people to connect to servers from other countries. The VPN disclaimer says: “One of our partners has indicated that this account may be connecting via a proxy — such as a VPN, which may change the country or region that is displayed on their profile,” also noting the data may not be inaccurate and that “some internet providers may use proxies automatically without action by the user.”