X recently began rolling out a new feature that revealed that many right-wing “America First” accounts are actually based outside the United States. However, the data may be unreliable.
X’s new “About This Account” feature includes information about when users joined and how they downloaded apps, but geographic location is getting the most attention so far.
Left-wing influencer Mika Erfan posted a gallery of MAGA accounts believed to be based in Japan, New Zealand, Pakistan and Thailand and wrote, “This is complete Armageddon for the internet right.”
Many of the more frowned upon accounts, such as @American, which appears to be based in Pakistan, are relatively small, but some have hundreds of thousands of followers.
X product director Nikita Beer said Saturday that the feature is being rolled out globally, describing it as “an important first step in ensuring the integrity of city squares worldwide.” However, some users have complained that the location information listed is wildly inaccurate. Beer acknowledged that “the data was not 100% from the old accounts” and suggested that “some rough edges… will be ironed out by Tuesday.”
The Verge noted that while there are definitely rage-bait accounts and troll farms outside of the United States, many of the locations listed seem highly suspicious, likely resulting in confusion due to travel, global teams, VPNs, or old IP addresses.
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