X Rolls Out 'About this account' Feature: Exposes Foreign Accounts, Sparks Privacy Alarm

X on Monday rolled out a new “About this account” feature that displays the country or region from which the platform believes an account is operating.

The change immediately drew mixed reactions, some users hailed it as a long-needed transparency tool that exposes disguised political actors, while others flagged erroneous location tags and warned the feature could risk revealing private information.

The location tag appears in an account’s bio as part of X’s expanded “About this account” panel, which already shows creation date and how the app was downloaded. X says the location is inferred from where users “often connect” to the service and cautions that recent travel, temporary relocation or use of virtual private networks (VPNs) can distort the data.

X’s head of product, Nikita Bier, said government accounts will be exempt from location disclosure “to prevent acts of terrorism against government leaders,” and that the company will push an update intended to deliver roughly 99% accuracy.

Instant Spotlight

The location data exposed several high-profile patterns almost immediately. Some commentators pointed to accounts that present themselves as US based but appeared to be posting from overseas; political users on both sides of the debate shared screenshots and accused opponents of misrepresentation.

At the same time, reporters and fact-checkers have taken to the new field to scrutinise origin claims for accounts covering conflict zones.

Privacy Worries

Not all results have been reliable. Influencers and public figures reported incorrect locations, one widely shared example showed an account labeled as operating from a country the user said they had never visited.

Another account that claims to be Gaza-based was shown as active from Poland, prompting questions about whether the tool misattributes logins from shared teams or VPNs. Bier acknowledged the feature isn’t perfect for older accounts and said X will update data periodically on a “delayed and randomised schedule” to preserve privacy.

X’s Privacy Safeguards

X emphasised caveats built into the rollout: government accounts are excluded, the location can change with travel, and X will continue refining the inference algorithm.

The company says it will correct inaccuracies as better data becomes available, and it is applying privacy-preserving timing and update rules to limit risks.