"It began when Nikita Bier, X's head of product, posted on Saturday that the platform had rolled out a change intended to increase transparency: an "About This Account" page that, among other things, reveals the country or region where a user's account is based. The company announced plans for the feature in October. "This is an important first step to securing the integrity of the global town square."
"It turns out that not everyone was eager to reveal the origin of their accounts. Users in places that limit freedom of speech could face political repercussions. Some users called it forced doxxing. Others pointed out that if a user created an account using a VPN routed through another country, the location information may not be accurate. On Saturday, X removed information about where some accounts were created."
Nikita Bier, X's head of product, announced an "About This Account" page that reveals the country or region where an account is based. The company had planned the feature since October and framed it as a transparency and authenticity step. Users raised safety and accuracy concerns, noting risks for people in repressive countries and potential VPN-induced misattributions. X removed location data for some accounts after acknowledging the data "was not 100 percent," especially for older accounts, and said it planned to restore the feature soon. Users then inspected about pages and found unexpected account origin results.
Read at Business Insider
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