X, formerly Twitter, has begun rolling out in recent days a new feature called 'About this Account,' which provides expanded information about every account on the platform - including the geographic location from which it operates, how often the username has been changed, the account creation date, and even the device type used when the app was first installed.
The move, led by Elon Musk, is meant to strengthen the platform’s credibility - but has instead exposed a large-scale industry of impersonation and fake accounts that had operated under false identities for months or even years.
Over the weekend, users worldwide began checking account information using the new feature and discovered that accounts presenting themselves as eyewitnesses from the Gaza Strip were not in Gaza at all.
For example, a user claiming to be “a witness from Rafah” was revealed to be based in Afghanistan, and an account claiming to be “a nurse from Khan Yunis” was shown to be operated from Pakistan.
Other examples include:
• “A father of six in a displacement camp” - actually a user from Bangladesh.
• “Survivors from northern Gaza” - developers from Malaysia.
• Even accounts posing as IDF soldiers - revealed to be users from London.
The platform, which once allowed near-total anonymity, has now significantly increased transparency - leading to widespread deletions of accounts exposed as part of bot farms and coordinated disinformation operations, especially relating to the fighting in Gaza.
There are also cases in which users continue to claim they are in Gaza, even though their geographic data indicates otherwise. One example is the user Muatassem al-Daloul, who published a video showing himself supposedly walking among ruins in the Strip after being challenged. The video’s authenticity is in doubt, particularly given current editing and AI capabilities.
According to Grok, X’s artificial intelligence system, the geographic information displayed by the new feature is considered reliable and accurate.