"X recently began rolling out a new feature that seemingly revealed many right-wing "America First" accounts are actually based outside the United States. Except the data might not be reliable. While X's new "About This Account" feature includes information about when a user joined and how they downloaded the app, geographic location is getting the most attention by far. Posting a gallery of MAGA accounts that are apparently based in Japan, New Zealand, Pakistan, and Thailand, left-wing influencer Micah Erfan wrote, "This is total armageddon for the online right.""
"X's director of product Nikita Bier said Saturday that the feature is being rolled out globally, describing this as "an important first step to securing the integrity of the global town square." However, some users have complained that their listed location is wildly inaccurate. Bier acknowledged that the "data was not 100% for old accounts" and suggested that "a few rough edges ... will be resolved by Tuesday.""
X rolled out an About This Account feature that shows account join dates, download methods, and geographic location. Geographic location data drew attention after many right-wing "America First" accounts appeared to be based outside the United States. Observers posted examples of accounts listed in countries including Japan, New Zealand, Pakistan, and Thailand. X's director of product said the feature is rolling out globally and framed it as a step toward securing platform integrity. X acknowledged that data for older accounts was not fully accurate and indicated the remaining issues should be resolved soon. Observers warned that travel, global teams, VPNs, or old IP addresses can produce misleading location data.
Read at TechCrunch
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