X's new country-of-origin feature reveals many 'US' accounts to be foreign-run

Summary

Elon Musk's X, formerly Twitter, has introduced the country of origin feature that seems to have thrown both the MAGA and Democrats' worlds online into chaos. Several profiles online, that had pushed certain narratives are now being found to have been operating from outside the US. X has introduced a feature that lets people see where an account is based out of. (REUTERS) The social media platform introduced a feature where one can see the country the account is based in. One has to head to an account and click on the date joined tab, which opens up onto a new page. This shows the country where that particular account is being operated from. While the feature was briefly removed after its introduction, it has now been added again, and both sides of the political spectrum are having a field day, calling out each other online. What to know about ‘American’ accounts based out of USThe accounts being discussed here have pushed agendas within the US, and commented on US politics regularly. Many are also named to echo political movements, like some MAGA accounts. However, these ‘political influencers’ have been found to be based outside the US, raising questions about the motives. One profile going by 'MAGA NATION' with a follower count of over 392,000, is based out of eastern Europe. Similarly, ‘Dark Maga’ a page with over 15,000 followers is based out of Thailand. ‘MAGA Scope’ which boasts over 51,000 followers is actually operated out of Nigeria, and ‘America First’, an account with over 67,000 followers is based out of Bangladesh. “At this time thousands of MAGA-aligned influencer accounts and large political pages that claim to be based in the U.S. are now being investigated and exposed with many of them traced to India, Nigeria, and other countries,” a news aggregator page on X noted. It wasn't just on the MAGA side. An account going by ‘Ron Smith’ whose bio claims he's a ‘Proud Democrat’ and ‘Professional MAGA hunter’ is operated out of Kenya. The account has over ...