{"id":64564,"date":"2025-11-25T09:00:48","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T09:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny"},"modified":"2025-11-25T09:21:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T09:21:36","slug":"us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny","title":{"rendered":"US or Nigeria? Location Feature Sparks Political Scrutiny"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>Elon Musk\u2019s X erupted in uproar after the rollout of a feature revealing an account\u2019s location, exposing what users describe as global troll farms and influence operations on the platform \u2014 including in support of Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<p>X\u2019s head of product Nikita Bier launched the feature over the weekend, allowing users \u201cto see the country or region where an account is based,\u201d in a bid to boost transparency on a platform that tech experts say is rife with disinformation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is an important first step to securing the integrity of the global town square,\u201d Bier wrote on X.<\/p>\n<p>The launch triggered a wave of online sleuthing.<\/p>\n<p>Almost immediately, the platform flooded with posts flagging dozens of right-wing internet personalities \u2014 promoters of Trump\u2019s \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d (MAGA) or \u201cAmerica First\u201d political slogans \u2014 whose location data showed they were in Nigeria, Bangladesh, or Eastern Europe.<\/p>\n<p>Influential pro-Trump accounts that present themselves as US-based but actually operate overseas have circulated 31 false claims over the past 15 months \u2014 including allegations of Democratic corruption \u2014 according to a NewsGuard analysis using the location feature.<\/p>\n<p>The feature also seemed to vindicate researchers who warned during last year\u2019s US presidential election that a network of MAGA accounts \u2014 posing as \u201cTrump-supporting independent women\u201d and using stolen photos of European models and influencers \u2014 was operating overseas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cX\u2019s new account info showed many of these \u2018American\u2019 women were actually based in Thailand, with some tied to Myanmar,\u201d Benjamin Strick, the London-based director of investigations at the Centre for Information Resilience, told AFP.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore this change we could show these profiles were fake, but we had almost no visibility on where they were run from, and often had to rely on \u2018slip ups\u2019 posted by the accounts, time posting patterns and irregularities in language.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow we can see that many of the accounts in this specific network are linked to Southeast Asia, which brings us closer to understanding who might be behind them,\u201d Strick added.<\/p>\n<p><b>\u201cRough edges\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Reflecting a hyperpolarized political climate, some right-wing personalities also pointed fingers at left-wing users seemingly posting from suspicious locations.<\/p>\n<p>X, however, cautioned that the location data \u201cmay not be accurate and can change periodically.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When users clicked on an account\u2019s location, a pop up noted: \u201cThe country or region that an account is based can be impacted by recent travel or temporary relocation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some users may also be connected via a VPN that can mask their real location.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are a few rough edges that will be resolved by Tuesday,\u201d Bier wrote after the feature\u2019s launch.<\/p>\n<p>Late Sunday, Bier said an \u201cupgrade\u201d was upcoming that will ensure \u201caccuracy will be nearly 99.99%\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some users criticized the launch, warning that it could expose the locations of dissidents and protestors in autocratic states. Bier, however, said that for users in countries \u201cwhere speech has penalties,\u201d the feature includes privacy toggles that reveal only the region.<\/p>\n<p>Soon after the launch, some apparent imposter accounts with vast followings were suddenly taken down.<\/p>\n<p>One X handle posing as a fan account for Ivanka Trump, the president\u2019s daughter, was suspended after users noted that its location was listed as Nigeria.<\/p>\n<p>The account, which had amassed one million followers, regularly posted pro-Trump content as well as Islamophobic and anti-immigration messages.<\/p>\n<p>As tech platforms scale back content moderation and reduce their reliance on human fact-checkers, disinformation researchers warn of a growing threat from Russian and Chinese actors seeking to sow political chaos in Western countries \u2014 as well as from overseas influencers driven by the prospect of monetary gain.<\/p>\n<p>The new feature \u201cshines a light on a fundamental problem with social media today: paid actors are deliberately inflaming difficult issues because controversy attracts attention,\u201d Amy Bruckman, a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, told AFP.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a difficult situation, and I believe we need more trustworthy platforms that don\u2019t allow people to behave badly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Last month, X laid off half of its engineering team responsible for fighting influence operations, spam, and illegal content on the platform, reflecting a push to replace staff with artificial intelligence, The Information reported on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>X did not respond to AFP\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Lesotho<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. Elon Musk\u2019s X erupted in uproar after the rollout of a feature revealing an account\u2019s location, exposing what users describe as global troll farms and influence operations on the platform \u2014 including in support of Donald Trump. X\u2019s head of product Nikita Bier launched the feature over the weekend, allowing users \u201cto [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":64563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[245],"class_list":["post-64564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-miscellaneous","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>US or Nigeria? Location Feature Sparks Political Scrutiny - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Elon Musk\u2019s X erupted in uproar after the rollout of a feature revealing an account\u2019s location, exposing what users desc ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US or Nigeria? Location Feature Sparks Political Scrutiny\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Elon Musk\u2019s X erupted in uproar after the rollout of a feature revealing an account\u2019s location, exposing what users desc ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-25T09:00:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-25T09:21:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1764049780.116678.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"US or Nigeria? Location Feature Sparks Political Scrutiny\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-25T09:00:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-25T09:21:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny\"},\"wordCount\":716,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1764049780.116678.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"miscellaneous\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny\",\"name\":\"US or Nigeria? Location Feature Sparks Political Scrutiny - Lesotho\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1764049780.116678.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-25T09:00:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-25T09:21:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Elon Musk\u2019s X erupted in uproar after the rollout of a feature revealing an account\u2019s location, exposing what users desc ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1764049780.116678.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1764049780.116678.jpg\",\"width\":768,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"US or Nigeria? Location Feature Sparks Political Scrutiny\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"US or Nigeria? Location Feature Sparks Political Scrutiny\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\",\"name\":\"Lesotho\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"US or Nigeria? Location Feature Sparks Political Scrutiny - Lesotho","description":"Elon Musk\u2019s X erupted in uproar after the rollout of a feature revealing an account\u2019s location, exposing what users desc ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"US or Nigeria? Location Feature Sparks Political Scrutiny","og_description":"Elon Musk\u2019s X erupted in uproar after the rollout of a feature revealing an account\u2019s location, exposing what users desc ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny","og_site_name":"Lesotho","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2025-11-25T09:00:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-11-25T09:21:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":512,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1764049780.116678.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"US or Nigeria? Location Feature Sparks Political Scrutiny","datePublished":"2025-11-25T09:00:48+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-25T09:21:36+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny"},"wordCount":716,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1764049780.116678.jpg","keywords":["Lesotho"],"articleSection":["all news","miscellaneous"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny","name":"US or Nigeria? Location Feature Sparks Political Scrutiny - Lesotho","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1764049780.116678.jpg","datePublished":"2025-11-25T09:00:48+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-25T09:21:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Elon Musk\u2019s X erupted in uproar after the rollout of a feature revealing an account\u2019s location, exposing what users desc ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1764049780.116678.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/11\/sm_1764049780.116678.jpg","width":768,"height":512,"caption":"US or Nigeria? Location Feature Sparks Political Scrutiny"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-or-nigeria-location-feature-sparks-political-scrutiny#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"US or Nigeria? Location Feature Sparks Political Scrutiny"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/","name":"Lesotho","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}