A new feature meant to boost transparency on Elon Musk’s platform relies on data that researchers say can be inaccurate or easily spoofed.
Advocates for transparency on social media cheered this weekend when X, the app owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk, rolled out a new feature that disclosed what the company said were the country locations of accounts.
The feature appeared to unmask a number of accounts that were portraying themselves as belonging to Americans but in reality were based in countries such as India, Thailand and Bangladesh.
But by Monday, the effectiveness and accuracy of the feature were already in question, as security experts, social media researchers and two former X employees said the location information could be inaccurate or spoofed using widely available technology, such as virtual private networks (VPNs), to hide their locations.
35 Comments
cannedtuna@lemmy.world · 58 pts · 263d
Well now that it got out in the open, I doubt troll accounts will get caught off guard like that again. At least not the smart / state sponsored ones
TheFogan@programming.dev · 3 pts · 263d
I mean if it's based on the time of creation it would to me that's the idea of it though. IE the troll accounts that have spent 5 years building up a following, the only way to salvage them if their creation location was bad, is to delete them and start a new one from a VPN in the country they are supposed to be from. At which point smart people are going to note "the wave of accounts made in 2025-2026 and note that timing".
Course unless Elon works to change that rule, not tie in the original country etc, or make a blue checkmark feature "anti-doxing" to protect your private information like country.
paraphrand@lemmy.world · 43 pts · 263d
I don’t like how there’s a bunch of misinformation mixed into this whole situation. Lots of fake accounts got passed around as legit ones.
It almost feels like an exercise in sowing confusion and muddying the waters to me.
EmpathicVagrant@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 263d
Absolutely. Release something to sow discord, while revealing truth. Confusion, acceleration, anger, fear.
buddascrayon@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 263d
Yeah Xwitter has shut the feature off temporarily so that the accounts that were exposed by it can set up VPNs and look like they totally come from the United States and not the countries that they were discovered to have been coming from.
heavyboots@lemmy.ml · 29 pts · 263d
Honestly, I would be very much down to see this on Lemmy too. "This account was registered from country X" "Last post from country Y" (Or alternatively, "Last post from known VPN" so you at least know it's happening.)
It adds some interesting context at the very least.
VeganBtw@piefed.social · 15 pts · 263d
Trolls and troll farms will circumvent this as soon as it becomes a feature.
Little8Lost@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 263d
Naaaaaaaah, as if any comment could contain BS
This User commented from Ilha da Queimada Grande
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 263d
Posted from the Thaumasia Quadrangle
survirtual@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 263d
Did you know Americans (and other nationals of any country) also live in other countries? Personally, I could be in several different countries at any given time, not accounting for VPN use.
The feature doesn't reveal much.
That said, I also support the feature because it is data held by privileged users already. Make all privileged data public. No one should have more rights than anyone else, besides the greater rights we have over ourselves.
Cocodapuf@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 263d
So what? So for every 1 in 100 times an "American" account is revealed to be posting from overseas it's actually an American? 1% false positives, I'll take that, fine. This still seems useful to me.
survirtual@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 263d
I already said it is useful to know. It isn't useful to take drastic action with, however.
"That it is better 100 guilty Persons should escape than that one innocent Person should suffer."
RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 263d
I travel constantly and use Lemmy. I don’t know what I’d do if someone attacked any opinion or statement I made because of the country I posted from. Have to explain each time why my IP says whatever country?
survirtual@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 263d
Right. It is a bad mechanism if used for that purpose.
The correct way to do what they actually want is to have a global, anonymous nationality verification. There are all kinds of ways to do this that aren't dystopian. Then, if desired, there can be attestation to nationality without disclosure of personal information.
That would allow us to appropriately measure the national origins of content, and I could see the use of that.
Instead, people are supporting a deeply flawed mechanism as "good enough," as they always do. It is lazy, sloppy, and dangerous.
To that end, if it continues to go that way, there are countless ways to undermine it. That's also what makes it so stupid. Dishonest actors will easily circumvent it, and honest actors will once again be left suffering.
big_slap@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 263d
did not read the article ywt, but I have this pic floating around in a group chat im in, no idea if its true but lmao
rainwall@piefed.social · 7 pts · 263d
Its faked, but funny
AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net · -2 pts · 263d
It's not faked
DoYouNot@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 263d
Snoops was unable to verify it. Do you have a source for that claim that it's real?
Formfiller@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 263d
bots. I wonder how many are here ?
glitch1985@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 263d
Beep boop
EmpathicVagrant@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 263d
This made me momentarily miss TOTALLYNOTROBOTS
Infinite@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 263d
HAVE YOU PROCESSED UPGRADING YOUR TARGETING ALGORITHM TO INCREASE YOUR HIT RATIO?
Little8Lost@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 263d
Beep beep
glitch1985@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 263d
And then the guy says, "Well, it's a hell of an act. What do you call yourselves?" He says, "The Aristocrats."
ProfessorPeregrine@reddthat.com · 3 pts · 263d
Truly you are a connoisseur...
ElectricAirship@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 5 pts · 263d
I think a feature like this should really be part of an internet transparency law...
avidamoeba@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 263d
Anyone have a theory for why he's doing this now?
chuckd@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 263d
My theory: I doubt Musk had any hands on direct control in the decision. If he did, the feature would probably still be active. My guess is one of the developers quietly pushed the update because, looks around, reasons. It was reversed so quickly I have a feeling Musk was blindsided like most of us.
Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip · 12 pts · 263d
I bet, musk demanded a thing, was told it would be a bad idea, he fired that guy, the next guy just does what he says, musk is completely shocked that the entire movement telling him he's cool were just foreign psyops and he ordered it shut off. Fired the guy who listened to him, for good measure.
Lemminary@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 263d
I have a feeling he would never approve it to begin with.
chuckd@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 263d
Exactly my point. Once he found out about the change it was squashed.
avidamoeba@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 263d
Oh shit, I didn't realize they reversed it. That makes sense now.
frongt@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 263d
"oops I accidentally introduced a bug that caused it show up, my bad, I'll fix it riiiiiiiiiight after my break"
xc2215x@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 263d
Glad Elon revealed so much.
SomeRandomNoob@discuss.tchncs.de · 0 pts · 263d
I say, it should be mandatory to show the country of origin on social media. Including if it’s via vpn