"Over the weekend, Elon Musk's X rolled out a feature that had the immediate result of sowing maximum chaos. The update, called "About This Account," allows people to click on the profile of an X user and see such information as: which country the account was created in, where its user is currently based, and how many times the username has been changed."
"Almost immediately, "About This Account" stated that many prominent and prolific pro-MAGA accounts, which signaled that they were run by "patriotic" Americans, were based in countries such as Nigeria, Russia, India, and Thailand. @MAGANationX, an account with almost 400,000 followers and whose bio says it is a "Patriot Voice for We The People," is based in "Eastern Europe (Non-EU)," according to the feature, and has changed its username five times since the account was made, last year."
X launched an "About This Account" feature that displays account metadata including country of creation, current user location, and number of username changes. The feature was described as "an important first step to securing the integrity of the global town square" and a later post read "I need a drink." The feature flagged many prominent pro‑MAGA accounts as being based in countries such as Nigeria, Russia, India, Thailand, Morocco, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Eastern Europe (Non‑EU). Examples include @MAGANationX, Maga Nadine, an "America First" account, and @American. The revelations align with concerns about foreign actors posing as Americans to spread political bait, mis- and disinformation, and spam. X and Elon Musk did not respond to requests for comment.
Read at The Atlantic
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