November 25, 2025 / 7:09 PM EST / CBS/AP
Accounts with names like @TRUMP_ARMY and @MAGANationX, featuring portraits of President Donald Trump, rally photos and American flags, have sounded like ardent U.S. supporters. After a weekend update to X, however, it became clear that the operators of many such accounts — some with thousands to hundreds of thousands of followers — are based in places like South Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe.
X rolled out an “About This Account” tool Saturday that lets users see the country or region where an account is based. To view it, tap or click the signup date on a profile, X product head Nikita Bier said. She called the feature an important first step toward protecting the integrity of the platform and said X plans more ways for users to verify authenticity. In countries with harsh speech restrictions, account holders can show only a region (for example, “South Asia”) rather than a specific country.
Researchers and online sleuths quickly used the tool to identify several prominent accounts that present as American political commentators but appear to be located overseas. NewsGuard, which tracks online misinformation, flagged multiple accounts tied to Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa that were among the most active spreaders of misleading or polarizing claims, including allegations that Democrats bribed moderators of a 2024 presidential debate.
Bier said an updated tool would be 99.99% accurate, though independent verification is difficult because accounts can use virtual private networks (VPNs) or internet providers may route traffic through proxies. X also displays notices on some profiles warning that location information may be inaccurate for those reasons.
Experts urged caution in interpreting the data. Alexios Mantzarlis, director of the Security, Trust, and Safety Initiative at Cornell Tech and a former director of the International Fact-Checking Network, said location data is useful but limited: its value may peak once exposed, and bad actors will adapt. He also noted that platforms such as Meta have offered similar information without eliminating misinformation.
Some of the accounts uncovered showed support for conservative figures like the late Charlie Kirk and members of Trump’s family, used U.S. imagery or implied American residency. An example is @BarronTNews_, displayed by X as located in “Eastern Europe (Non-EU)” despite a profile location reading “Mar A Lago.” That account, with more than 580,000 followers, described itself as “a FAN account … run by one guy who loves this country and supports President Trump.”
Former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency director Chris Krebs said these accounts are part of a “rage economy” that capitalizes on public interest in current events. He suggested many are foreign-based actors seeking to profit from engagement and said X deserved credit for exposing them, predicting many could lose influence.
NewsGuard also found attempts to mislead users about the new feature, including fake screenshots meant to imply certain accounts were created overseas when they were not. The motives behind the accounts vary: while some could be linked to state influence operations, many appear financially driven — producing commentary, memes and videos to attract attention and revenue.
Mantzarlis said money is likely the main driver for the most visible accounts unmasked so far, though he warned that state actors remain a documented threat to platforms like X. Users were split on the privacy implications of revealing account locations; some argued it was an invasion of privacy. X’s location feature represents a new transparency tool but also a new target for manipulation and debate about online authenticity and foreign influence.
