A new transparency tool on Elon Musk’s social platform X has surfaced an awkward reality about several of the site’s loudest right-wing accounts.
The “About this Account” feature—announced in October and rolled out globally over the weekend—is meant to help “secure the integrity of the global town square,” according to X’s head of product, Nikita Bier, who shared the update on Saturday.
But soon after launch, users noticed something striking: a number of Make America Great Again–branded accounts, some with large followings, appeared to be based outside the United States, at least according to the feature’s data.
Not long afterward, X removed some of the location details from public view, and Bier tried to tamp down confusion, posting that the information was “not 100%” accurate.
By the end of the day, he summed up his feelings with a brief post: “I need a drink.”
X did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
One popular account, MAGA NATION—boasting more than 400,000 followers and an “America First” tagline in its bio—was listed as being based in a non-EU Eastern European country. Another account, @maga47amara, with more than 7,000 followers, was shown as being based in Thailand. That account was no longer available as of Monday.
Several parody or fandom accounts tied to Trump-related figures also had their purported locations exposed. A profile using images of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, with 168,000 followers, was shown as being based in Hong Kong. An Ivanka Trump fan account, IvankaNews, which had amassed more than 1 million followers, was listed as based in Nigeria; that account had been suspended by Monday.
Left-leaning influencers quickly seized on the revelations. Commentator Harry Sisson wrote on X, “This is easily one of the greatest days on this platform,” and later shared multiple screenshots highlighting conservative accounts that appeared to be operated from abroad.
It’s still unclear how reliable the location data is. Some accounts are clearly mislabeled: YouTuber and author Hank Green’s verified X account, for example, is shown as being based in Japan.
There are also plausible reasons for inaccuracies. A U.S.-based user could have created an account while traveling, or they may use a VPN that routes their traffic through another country.
Even so, the locations revealed for certain right-wing accounts align with previous findings that foreign actors have used social media to target U.S. audiences with misinformation.
There is no evidence so far that the newly highlighted accounts are tied to foreign governments. However, substantial past research has documented how countries such as Russia and China have deployed fake accounts on X to push propaganda.
Despite the rocky introduction, Bier suggested that the feature is improving. In a follow-up post on Sunday, he said an update was imminent.
“Upgrade coming in 12 hours. Accuracy will be nearly 99.99%,” he wrote.
