X launches "About this account" feature, Backfires

YCoCg

YCoCg

Member
A new feature on X allows people to check out information about the account posting, including details such as where the account was created and where it's posting from.

Naturally this revealed a lot of grifter accounts and accounts that post a lot of manipulation. X disabled the feature briefly to whitelist accounts not to be included in this but the feature is now once again active.

Once again be careful where you get your news from people, it's the age of misinformation!
 
Seeing all those sock puppet accounts masquerading as Americans get their locations revealed is entertaining.

53aa6317f2f02.jpeg
 
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No different than when England loses a Football match and the left wing media instantly claim we are all racist only to offer no retraction when it turns out to be Indonesian or Brazilian bots and less than 10 people out of 65 million actually in the UK
 
Hookshot said:
No different than when England loses a Football match and the left wing media instantly claim we are all racist only to offer no retraction when it turns out to be Indonesian or Brazilian bots and less than 10 people out of 65 million actually in the UK
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10 People complain about something. 100 people complain about the complainers and Media reports 1000 people was complaining in the first place.
 
Why does the title say backfires? Wasn't the plan to show people that an account is suspect / misinformation? If it was it sounds like they're succeeding unless I'm missing something.
 
This is working exactly as intended though.

People from India larping as "based" Europeans or Americans is a scourge on the platform and this helps quite a bit.
 
NickFire said:
Why does the title say backfires? Wasn't the plan to show people that an account is suspect / misinformation? If it was it sounds like they're succeeding unless I'm missing something.
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I presume it "backfired" due to reveling all those grifter account which according to OP X actually wants to have there. hence why it was turned off while "whitelisting" alot of them.


NDTV tells a different story though. It was briefly turned off due to stuff like VPNs and Starlink creating inaccuracies.
 
Kadve said:
I presume it "backfired" due to reveling all those grifter account which according to OP X actually wants to have there. hence why it was turned off while "whitelisting" alot of them.


NDTV tells a different story though. It was briefly turned off due to stuff like VPNs and Starlink creating inaccuracies.
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I think the point was to reveal grifter accounts. Maybe he thought it backfired because it needed to work out the kinks when it first launched. Not how I would use term backfired but I could see someone else thinking it fits I suppose.
 
If it pays a couple hundred bucks to generate views than it would be worthwhile to pretend to be from somewhere and make political post to generate exposure. Now you can at least tell who some of the grifters are.
 
It's a great feature. It should also be available from the profile popup when you hover over a profile icon in their post, and not just via the profile page.

I think it has some indicator if the user is using a VPN, but not sure if I actually seen one as of yet.
 
Hookshot said:
No different than when England loses a Football match and the left wing media instantly claim we are all racist only to offer no retraction when it turns out to be Indonesian or Brazilian bots and less than 10 people out of 65 million actually in the UK
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Since you are taking about England I will agree with you. But if it was La Liga game where the "supporters" throw bananas at the field or imitate a monkey from the stand i would not... This kind of shit is way overdue in soccer.

I think this will be an interesting "feature" if it's possible to create an account with VPN in countries that usually prosecute based on Twitter opinions. Good luck trying to subpoena Twitter about a user account based in "Holland", "Switzerland" or "Poland" with a crime of opinion charge.

 
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Thought I saw a week or so back someone asking one of x's employees if it could be done, then said to give them a few days for it to get it working, unless that was misinformation too.
 
The Backfires comment is due to a lot of these influencer accounts not happy about being exposed, the idea was that only one side were faking things too which has sent some into denial about this
 
Someone mentioned using a VPN to work around this. I heard if users are connected to VPN there's an indicator on their location page for that.

Kacho said:
Oh look this shill is in Turkey

pKscSyjx4u8eda8K.jpeg


Edit: this is amazing



charlton heston laughing GIF
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I figured Synth Potato was in some third-world adjacent country based on the times he's shared his battlestation. He's the target audience for the Steam Machine to be an upgrade lol

Plus, shill? He seems sincere to me, at least. And his GOTY is KCD2, so he gets a pass in my book.
 
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Kadve said:
They are adding a line about accounts being created with VPN to.
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True, but the fact that someone is using a VPN doesn't mean they're operating from a different country (and you'll never know which one). Some people may simply want more privacy considering how many sites still track your activities even if you don't consent and don't agree to their cookie policies.
 
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Consequence of throwing out the original blue check verification system and replacing it with a monthly fee, instead of making the selection process fairer.

Instantly pushed anonymous accounts to the front of the algo. And these anonymous accounts are mostly from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, exerting undue influence on the West.
 
Backfired?
Seems like its working as intended exposing many many grifters and bot accounts as not even being in/from the country they claim.

xrnzaaas said:
It worked great this one time, but more people will simply use VPN's now knowing their location can be traced & published.
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t2I6KlB.png


Itll probably get better at detectubg VPNs
 
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YCoCg said:
A new feature on X allows people to check out information about the account posting, including details such as where the account was created and where it's posting from.

Naturally this revealed a lot of grifter accounts and accounts that post a lot of manipulation. X disabled the feature briefly to whitelist accounts not to be included in this but the feature is now once again active.

Once again be careful where you get your news from people, it's the age of misinformation!
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Lmao how did they expect this to go?

Hopefully people actually use it to verify where they get their info from. A lot of users are comfortable being lied to by a face easy to look at.
 
I hope this makes people think twice about the authenticity of online quarrels or smears. Especially, the radical and extreme kind. Their aim is to drive division and boost extreme views which sow strife in the west.

Its in the best interest of some specific state actors to tear the west apart through polarization while making people question the legitimacy of our societies.
 
Hypereides said:
I hope this makes people think twice about the authenticity of online quarrels or smears. Especially, the radical and extreme kind. Their aim is to drive division and boost extreme views which sow strife in the west.

Its in the best interest of some specific state actors to tear the west apart through polarization while making people question the legitimacy of our societies.
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And to make you turn on your own fellow country men over nonsense that doesnt matter in the grand scheme.
 
John Bilbo said:
How does one use this feature? I want to see if I am who I think I am.
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On your profile page, click the link where it says your joined year.

This is a nice feature (probably should have been there as a standard from the start) and quite benign from a privacy standpoint as long as you aren't a troll or bullshit account (look at all of the exposed folks who have been screenshotted in this thread lol). Looks like any government profiles that have been officially verified don't show it due to privacy, even though this stuff primarily only shows country location (I can see the decision for this both ways, especially traveling).

From the looks of it so far, you'll potentially see two types of icons:

Shield icon with an exclamation - This shows if there is some detection of the user potentially using a VPN. It does warn that it isn't 100% accurate at this point. Plus, using a VPN can be normal too (aside from the mentioned trolling/bullshit/etc. users)

Circle icon with an exclamation - This likely will be normal for most users, but will also have a disclaimer on accuracy.
 
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Two sources, depending on which echo chamber you prefer to frolic in.

redstate.com

Whoa: Major Foreign Propagandists Utterly Exposed After X Glitch Reveals Account Locations

A glitch on X exposes foreign propaganda accounts posing as Americans.
redstate.com redstate.com

All that stuff you've been hearing about a civil war within the GOP was astroturfed by accounts like the ones posted above. They want you to think it's all spiraling and that they are winning hearts and minds. It's fake. It always has been. Remember that as you continue to browse social media. Foreign entities are gaming the system to try to diminish American exceptionalism and influence. For now, they find trashing Israel and Jews as a convenient dividing line, but this is really about destroying Western civilization and ushering in Islamization. Don't be the sucker who falls for it.

Editor's Note: The mainstream media isn't interested in the facts; they're only interested in attacking the president. Help us continue to get to the bottom of stories like the Jeffrey Epstein files by supporting our truth-seeking journalism today.
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web.archive.org

Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Actors

A new feature on Elon Musk’s X has given deeper insight into the online “America First” movement.
web.archive.org web.archive.org
The use of fake accounts to bolster the MAGA movement is something The Centre for Information Resilience, an independent, nonprofit research organization, flagged during the 2024 election.

With many of the MAGA influencer accounts revealed to originate in Eastern Europe or Russia, users are questioning the ongoing interference in American politics by foreign adversaries.

"Why are so many MAGA influencers from outside the U.S.? It's almost as if they are working for foreign governments," wrote influencer Ed Krassenstein.
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For those in countries like Nigeria or Bangladesh, the American dollars paid by X for their work can make a big difference to their lives. X payouts are calculated on the basis of engagement from verified premium accounts with content on X.
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Azzurri said:
It exposes both sides, it's pretty hilarious.
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That's the funny, but also sad thing here.

It is literally exposing people on both sides of the political fence, yet people are still using it as ammo against the side they don't like.

The meme image where the point is flying over someone's head is the most applicable it has ever been here.
 
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