It’s been well established that X (formerly Twitter) serves as a key platform for foreign influence campaigns interfering in American politics. While the spotlight has often been on Russian troll farms, which the U.S. government has targeted multiple times, the recent launch of X’s About This Account feature may have shed light on the extent and global reach of its foreign troll issue.
Almost right after the feature rolled out, users began noticing that numerous accounts riling up emotions over U.S. politics were actually based outside the country. Accounts with names like ULTRAMAGA🇺🇸TRUMP🇺🇸2028 were traced back to Nigeria. A verified account impersonating border czar Tom Homan was linked to Eastern Europe, while America_First0 turned out to be from Bangladesh. A whole network of “Trump-supporting independent women” claiming to be American was actually located in Thailand.
Threads started to emerge, gathering evidence of pro-MAGA trolls that presented themselves as Americans, but were really foreign actors from all over the globe. Some right-wing figures quickly pointed out that many left-wing X users also weren’t who they claimed to be. Before long, X became inundated with users calling out what seemed like an endless array of fake and troll accounts aimed at igniting political discord.
Not long after the feature launched, X removed information about account creation locations. Disclaimers were also added to the locations of accounts, emphasizing that travel, VPNs, and proxies could skew data. While this is indeed true for some accounts, it’s highly unlikely to apply to the majority being exposed.
Many of these troll accounts may be part of state-sponsored influence operations. Foreign powers such as Russia and China have a clear interest in creating chaos within the U.S. political system. However, it’s also probable that many are motivated by financial gain. Earnings from monetization on X may seem small by Western standards, but they can be life-changing for individuals in developing countries.
