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Elon Musk’s X rolls out a new transparency feature showing the real countries where accounts are operated.
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The update has exposed numerous anonymous accounts — including many claiming to be foreign — as being run from Nigeria and India.
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The revelation has sparked major reactions online, raising debates about misinformation, scams, and digital privacy.
Social media platform X (formerly Twitter) has begun rolling out a new transparency tool that reveals the countries where user accounts are operated — a development that has exposed hundreds of anonymous accounts previously posing as foreign personalities.
The feature, which quietly launched on Friday, November 21, allows users with early access to view an account’s country by tapping the “Joined” date on its profile. It also displays expanded account metadata such as verification status, app store country, username history, and account creation date.
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X’s Head of Product, Nikita Bier, had earlier said the move aims to curb foreign interference, boost transparency, and help users verify authenticity.
But almost immediately after the update appeared, users discovered that a significant number of faceless media handles and political propaganda pages — especially those claiming to be based in the U.S., South Africa, Israel, and Gaza — were actually operated from Nigeria and India.
Some of the exposed accounts include:
- @danaalhabil_01, which claimed to be a displaced Gaza resident and ran a GoFundMe campaign that raised €63,860; the feature revealed it is operated from Nigeria with five username changes.
- @IvankaNews_, a long-running media-style account with over a million followers, shown to be based in Nigeria.
- @GoodessGelai, posing as a U.S. MAGA supporter since 2013, revealed to be Nigerian-operated.
- @IsraelSpoof_, a pro-Israel commentary account, exposed as being based in India.
Users online have been reacting sharply to the revelations.
“I’m happy we can finally see where the heat was coming from. Imagine — Nigerians, Igbo people are the ones behind these accounts?!” one user, @GhostFa77254400, wrote.
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Another user, @MichaelZucci, noted the global scale of the issue:
“Thousands of MAGA-aligned influencer accounts claiming to be in the U.S. are now being exposed, many traced to India, Nigeria, and other countries.”
Others said they were not surprised, arguing that the platform has long been a hub for engagement farming and misinformation disguised as foreign voices.
While supporters applaud the feature for exposing scams, coordinated propaganda, and fake activism, critics warn that showing country labels might compromise user privacy. Responding to privacy concerns, X clarified that users can choose to display a broader region instead of a specific country.
The company also noted that although VPNs can mask some locations, the system flags suspicious discrepancies and attaches warning labels.
The rollout, still in limited testing, is part of Elon Musk’s broader push to make X a more transparent platform.
