X Network - formerly Twitter, updated its privacy policy over the weekend, so that details about users can be seen - including the country from which the account operates.
The new feature provides extended information about each account on the platform: how often the username is changed, the date the account was opened, and even the device from which the app was first installed.
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Following the change, it was revealed that popular Palestinian accounts - including those reporting on "war crimes in Gaza", ostensibly from within the Strip and on behalf of Gazans - were revealed to be accounts originating from Poland, the United States, Ireland, South Africa, Afghanistan and other countries.
For example, a user who introduced himself as "Aad Rafah" turned out to be an Afghan user, and an account belonging to "Sister of Khan Yunis" was revealed to be operated from Pakistan. "Father of six in a displaced persons camp" turned out to be a user from Bangladesh. "Survivors of North Gaza" - they are actually from Malaysia.
As a result, netizens began adding "community comments" to accounts claiming to operate from the Strip.
The result: widespread deletions of accounts that were discovered to be part of bot farms and coordinated activity to spread disinformation, mainly around the fighting in Gaza.
According to 'Kan News', Company X has been working on the update for the past few months - and the feature that reveals users' locations completed a pilot last month and its distribution to accounts began gradually at the end of the week.
To check the user's location, click on the "Date of joining the network" on the account page, and a list will open that includes, among other things, the location of the account operator.
"When you read content on X, you should be able to verify its authenticity," Nikita Barr, X’s head of product, wrote in a tweet last month. "This is critical for staying informed about important issues happening in the world. As part of that, we’re experimenting with showing new information in accounts, including the country an account is located in, among other things.".
