Feature on X reveals foreign origins of many US political-oriented accounts

The launch of the "About this account" feature on X (Twitter) has revealed that a significant number of accounts actively posting political content within the American discourse are in fact registered outside the United States.

Source: The Verge

Details: Immediately after the feature went live, users began noticing that profiles with aggressive political messaging and patriotic branding turned out to be linked to Nigeria. A verified account impersonating former immigration official Tom Homan had been created in Eastern Europe. Others originated from Bangladesh. An entire network of "independent pro-Trump women" was found to be connected to Thailand.

Threads began appearing on the platform listing accounts that presented themselves as American but were registered in various countries around the world. Some right-wing commentators also started pointing to fake activity among left-wing accounts. This triggered a wave of mutual accusations and a new round of debate about the authenticity of political profiles on the platform.

Shortly after the launch, X removed information about account creation locations and added a warning that VPNs and proxies could affect the accuracy of the data. However, these factors are unlikely to explain most of the cases identified.

Some of these profiles may be linked to state-run influence campaigns – particularly from Russia and China. Others operate for the sake of content monetisation.

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