Elon Musk's X is finally rolling out its 'About this Account' feature after months of testing, displaying where users are based, how many times they've changed usernames, and their original join date. The transparency push comes as the platform struggles with bot detection in an AI-powered world where fake accounts are getting harder to spot.
Elon Musk's X just dropped its most significant anti-bot weapon yet. The platform is rolling out its long-awaited 'About this Account' feature, giving users unprecedented visibility into profile authenticity markers that could reshape how we spot fake accounts.
The feature exposes crucial data points that bots typically try to hide: geographical location, original join date, username change history, and how the account first connected to the platform. It's X's latest attempt to tackle a problem that's gotten exponentially worse since AI made it easier to create convincing fake personas.
X's head of product Nikita Bier first teased this feature in October, starting with internal testing on employee accounts. The concept is elegantly simple: if someone's bio says they're from Texas but their account data shows they're actually overseas, that's a red flag worth investigating.
The rollout gained urgency last weekend when a user directly asked Musk to require location disclosure. Bier's response was swift and telling: 'Give me 72 hours.' True to form, X delivered ahead of schedule.
Users can access their account transparency data by clicking the 'Joined' date on their profile. The resulting page reveals everything from App Store download history to the exact timeline of username changes - data points that collectively paint a picture of account authenticity that's nearly impossible for bad actors to fake convincingly.
But X isn't forcing users into total transparency. The platform allows granular privacy controls, letting users choose between displaying their specific country or just their broader geographical region. Initially pitched as protection for users in authoritarian regimes, the feature now extends these privacy options to all users, including those in the US.
There's a catch that privacy-conscious users won't love: reverse engineer Aaron found code suggesting X plans to flag VPN usage with warnings that location data 'may not be accurate.' If implemented, this would significantly limit users' ability to mask their true location from the transparency features.
The rollout appears deliberately staged. While users globally are reporting the feature appearing on their own profiles, TechCrunch couldn't access this information on other users' profiles at press time. This suggests X is giving users time to review and adjust their privacy settings before making the data publicly visible.
