Elon Musk’s X has begun rolling out a new feature for user profiles that will display information about the account. This includes where the account is based, how many times it has changed its username, the original join date, and how the user downloaded the X app. The new information is intended to reduce inauthentic engagement on the platform, where bots often pretend to be humans. This problem could become even harder to manage in the age of artificial intelligence.
Plans for this feature were first announced in October. At that time, X’s head of product Nikita Bier stated the company would experiment with displaying this information on profiles, starting with his own account and those of other X employees. The idea is that by exposing these details, users can make a more informed decision about whether they are interacting with an authentic account or a bot or bad actor looking to sow discord or spread misinformation.
For example, if an X account’s bio claims the user is from a specific US state, but the account information shows they are based overseas, you might suspect they have another agenda.
Last weekend, Bier responded to a user who asked Elon Musk to require accounts to display location information by saying, “Give me 72 hours.” In the days since that post, more people have seen the About This Account feature become available on their own profiles.
To view your account information on the web or in the X mobile app, you click on the Joined date on your profile. This takes you to a page showing the date you joined the platform, your account’s location, how many username changes have been made and when the last one occurred, and how you are connected to X, such as via the US App Store or Google Play.
While some users globally are reporting that the feature has appeared on their profiles, it is not yet accessible on other people’s profiles for all users. This could be because X wants to give users time to preview their information for accuracy and adjust their settings before a broader rollout.
Specifically, X allows users to adjust whether the feature displays their precise country or just their geographical region. Originally, the company said this would be an option in areas where free speech could have penalties, but it appears even US users can choose to set their profile to display either country or region. The default setting is to display the country.
To make this change, you can access the About Your Account setting under the Privacy and Safety settings in the X app.
One reverse engineer digging through the app’s code also found that X appears to be working on an additional feature. This feature would display a warning on your account if you were using a VPN to mask your location. It is unclear if or when that feature will go live, but if it does, it would flag to others that the user’s country or region may not be accurate.
X is not the first social network to provide this level of transparency to users. Instagram has long offered a similar About This Account feature.