X’s new location feature reveals accounts pretending to be Americans and Gaza journalists

WASHINGTON, DC: Elon Musk’s X now exposes the true locations of social media accounts, revealing users who mislead followers about where they post from.

The platform added a feature on Friday, November 21, that allows anyone to see the country or region behind an account. Since the update, many popular accounts claiming to be American “patriots” or “constitutionalists” have been shown to be operating from foreign countries.

X’s new feature exposes users who are posing as Americans

The account @1776General_, which has over 140,000 followers, claims in its biography to be a “constitutionalist, patriot and ethnically American” and says it is based in the US.

But X’s new feature revealed the account actually operates from Turkey. The account owner responded, “I work in international business. I'm currently working in Turkey on a contract.”

Another account, @AmericanVoice__, had more than 200K followers before the update. The new feature showed it was run from South Asia, and the owners deleted the account shortly after.

Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, said the feature will help users spot misinformation.

“When you read content on X, you should be able to verify its authenticity. This is critical for staying informed about important issues happening in the world. Part of this is showing new information in accounts, including the country an account is located in, among other things,” Bier wrote.  

How does X’s feature identify fake Gaza journalists?

Many accounts claiming to report on alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza have misled their followers. Motasm A Dalloul, who uses the handle @AbujomaaGaza, describes himself as a “Gaza-based journalist” and has over 197K followers.

X's new location feature revealed that he actually posts from Poland. Dalloul denied misleading his audience and posted a video on Saturday, November 22, showing him on the ground in Gaza, but many users questioned whether the video was digitally altered.

Another account, Quds News Network (@QudsNen), calls itself the “largest independent Palestinian youth news network” and has over 600K followers. The account lists its location as “Palestine,” but X's new feature shows it operates from Egypt. This differs from other accounts X identifies as based in Palestine, such as American-Palestinian journalist Mariam Barghouti.

A similar account, Times of Gaza (@Timesofgaza), has nearly one million followers and claims to provide “the latest news updates and top stories from occupied Palestine.” X shows that the account operates from “East Asia and the Pacific.”

X representatives say users can partly spoof their location using a VPN. When X detects a VPN, it adds a warning next to the listed location to alert followers.  

How do you use the new X location feature on mobile devices?

When you enable precise location on X’s official apps, X can collect, store, and use your GPS and other location information. This allows X to deliver posts and ads tailored to your location, show location-specific trends, and display your location to your followers when you geotag a post.

To turn on location services, open your device’s Settings and tap Privacy, then go to Location Services and drag the slider to turn it on. Next, find the X app in the list and select either Never or While Using the App, depending on your preference.