Based in US or Nigeria? Musk’s X erupts over location feature

WASHINGTON: Elon Musk’s X erupted in uproar after the rollout of a feature revealing an account’s location, exposing what users describe as global troll farms and influence operations on the platform — including in support of Donald Trump.

X’s head of product Nikita Bier launched the feature over the weekend, allowing users “to see the country or region where an account is based,” in a bid to boost transparency on a platform that tech experts say is rife with disinformation.

“This is an important first step to securing the integrity of the global town square,” Bier wrote on X. The launch triggered a wave of online sleuthing. Almost immediately, the platform flooded with posts flagging dozens of right-wing internet personalities — promoters of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) or “America First” political slogans — whose location data showed they were in Nigeria, Bangladesh, or Eastern Europe.

Influential pro-Trump accounts that present themselves as US-based but actually operate overseas have circulated 31 false claims over the past 15 months — including allegations of Democratic corruption — according to a NewsGuard analysis using the location feature. The feature also seemed to vindicate researchers who warned during last year’s US presidential election that a network of MAGA accounts — posing as “Trump-supporting independent women” and using stolen photos of European models and influencers — was operating overseas.