Over the weekend, X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, introduced a new feature that disclosed the country locations of its users. The move was praised by advocates of transparency, as it appeared to expose accounts that had been falsely portraying themselves as American, revealing that they were actually based in countries like India, Thailand, and Bangladesh.
However, by Monday, the feature’s effectiveness and accuracy were already being questioned. Experts in security and social media research, as well as former X employees, pointed out that the location data could easily be inaccurate or manipulated, especially using widely available tools like virtual private networks (VPNs) to mask users’ real locations.
Darren Linvill, a professor and co-director of Clemson University’s Media Forensics Hub, warned that this feature was likely to be exploited. “People will quickly learn how to evade it,” he said, adding that the feature had been proposed internally at X as early as 2018 but was repeatedly rejected before its recent rollout.
The new feature, which became visible on user profiles, includes information about the month and year an account joined, its claimed location, whether it used country-specific app stores, and possibly other details. Prior to this, location information on X was entirely user-provided and unchecked. Some users listed non-serious or entirely fabricated locations.
It’s not entirely clear what data X is using to determine users’ locations, but the platform could be relying on a mix of signals such as internet protocol (IP) addresses, phone numbers, GPS data from devices, and possibly information provided by users themselves. Some former employees explained that X had used these types of geolocation signals in the past, including data from internet service providers and data brokers like MaxMind, which are commonly used in the trust and safety industry.
Despite the intention of the new feature to increase transparency, the rollout was marred by immediate issues with accuracy. For instance, the location of several NBC News journalists was shown as being where they had traveled recently, rather than where they were actually based. This problem was still present several days after the feature launched.
The two former X employees, both of whom had worked under Musk, explained that geolocation data was not always reliable and could be easily manipulated. VPNs, which are commonplace, allow users to spoof their locations by masking their real IP addresses, and there’s no clear indication that X has countermeasures to detect this. One former employee pointed out that the idea of country-of-origin labels had been under discussion for years, but it had been shelved due to concerns about manipulation and potential backfire.
Olga Belogolova, a former Meta employee who led counter-influence operations, argued that country-of-origin labels are ultimately a short-term fix for deeper problems within social media. She said these types of transparency features can only be effective if the data they rely on is both reliable and consistent—something that’s difficult to guarantee when VPNs and other tools make it so easy to spoof location data.
Some users have already begun to question the accuracy of the new labels, with a number of high-profile accounts being unmasked as being based in foreign countries. For example, one account that described itself as a “Trump Lover” and had more than 395,000 followers was labeled as being based in Morocco, despite claiming to be based in New York.
Belogolova, who now teaches at Johns Hopkins University, called the feature’s launch a failure, noting that it relies on unreliable data sources and doesn’t account for the potential risks posed to dissidents and others who may need to hide their location for safety. “This feels reminiscent of early attempts to solve the troll farm problem after the 2016 election interference,” she said.
Under Musk’s ownership, X has also made other changes that have reduced transparency. Most notably, the company restricted access to its application programming interface (API), which had previously allowed researchers to study the platform at scale. This move has led to the cancellation or suspension of over 100 studies, as reported by Reuters.
Linvill emphasized that some users may have financial motives for misrepresenting their location. Influencers, for example, may see it as a strategy to appear as if they are based in the U.S., which could increase their chances of monetization through subscriptions or ad revenue from X.
Luca Luceri, a researcher from the University of Southern California, expressed concern about how this new feature might affect efforts to track coordinated campaigns aimed at manipulating public opinion. He noted that it’s still unclear whether the location data will be accurate enough to make a real difference.
Experts also pointed out that the feature could expose certain individuals, such as peaceful activists or dissidents, to greater risks by revealing their actual locations. Calli Schroeder, from the Electronic Privacy Information Center, questioned whether X fully understood these potential risks before launching the feature.
“If they’re willing to implement something like this without consulting experts, what other changes are they planning to roll out that could put people at risk?” she asked.
