Elon Musk’s social media platform, X (formerly Twitter), briefly enabled a feature showing users’ country of origin based on their IP address, then took it down within hours. The feature, which appeared late Friday night, was accessible through a new “About this account” section on user profiles. Unlike the self-reported “Location” field, this displayed the nation from which an account was actively posting.
The rollout was met with positive feedback from many X users. Many saw this as a way to curb misinformation and propaganda, particularly in political debates, as it would make it harder for foreign actors to disguise their origins. Facebook has a similar function for Pages, showing the country of origin for page administrators, though not for individual profiles.
Why it mattered: The move came after weeks of anticipation. X’s head of product, Nikita Bier, had previewed the feature on his own account before public release. The speed of the rollout and removal suggests a technical issue, rather than a deliberate policy change.
Technical issues: Users quickly reported inaccuracies, with some showing incorrect locations due to VPN use or outdated registration details. Bier responded to these complaints, blaming Starlink and acknowledging that VPNs were causing false data. He indicated that X was aware of the problem and intended to fix it with a new indicator for VPN usage.
The feature was removed while fixes were being implemented. Bier confirmed that an update will be rolled out soon, with a VPN indicator added to account history for both Android, iOS, and web platforms.
The bigger picture: X has been experimenting with transparency features in recent months, though some have been short-lived. The brief appearance of this country-of-origin display highlights the platform’s ongoing efforts to balance user privacy with demands for accountability. The feature’s return is likely, but X will need to address the accuracy problems first.
