It's still unclear what kind of impact these changes will have on the platform, but in the meantime, think twice the next time you come across a polarizing post.

You might be surprised at where it came from.

At the time of this writing, the location information comes with a disclaimer: "The country or region that an account is based can be impacted by recent travel or temporary relocation. This data may not be accurate and can change periodically."

…But that also appeared to be the case for some accounts run by major political parties and media outlets, raising questions about just how accurate the feature can be.

Here in Canada, a CBC report found that some accounts known for commenting on politics appeared to be hosted abroad, in places like Italy and Thailand: www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

You might remember Sofia from our episode on Video AI Deception, earlier this season. Check out that interview here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e2Z...

They also uncovered cases of users posting fake or misleading screenshots of the locations for some prominent accounts, suggesting they were foreign-run when they really weren't.

NewsGuard senior editor Sofia Rubinson and her colleagues identified a series of popular X accounts outwardly appearing to be American users, but were listed as located in parts of Europe, Africa and Asia:
www.newsguardrealitycheck.com/p/influentia...

Users quickly began sharing screenshots of the publicly listed location info on a variety of prominent accounts, including some that have raised eyebrows:
x.com/Shayan86/sta...

Late last month, the social media platform introduced a new feature that allows users to see the country or region where other accounts are currently in use:
x.com/nikitabier/s...

As it turns out, political messaging isn't always home-grown, and a recent policy change on X may have just exposed some accounts operating abroad.

Thanks Lawson!