Suspicion has grown online that many conservative accounts on X/Twitter might be run from Eastern Europe, India and beyond – despite claiming to be based in the US
Accounts on X/Twitter that had gained prominence for backing Donald Trump and the MAGA movement have been exposed as coming from Eastern Europe and beyond.
Engagement farming profiles flooded X/Twitter after billionaire Elon Musk acquired Twitter in October 2022 and allowed users to make money from their viral posts. An influx of anonymous profiles seeking virality through pro-Trump and MAGA posts sparked speculation online that people running the accounts were not operating from the US.
Users on the platform must actively monetise their content in order to earn money from their posts, as well as having an XPremium subscription. Musk previously said this would be a way to eliminate bots from the platform, although it appears to have created an incentive for accounts based outside the US to stir up controversy or appeal to particular groups in a bid to raise money.
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Accounts included a profile impersonating White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s husband, Nicholas, that claimed to be an “America patriot [sic]” with a location set to Nigeria. Another profile sharing news about White House Border Czar Tom Homan previously said to its 31,400 followers that it voted for Trump and was based in Virginia. But checking the profile saw it was in fact run from a non-EU country in Eastern Europe.
AmericanPatriot, which shares MAGA content with 143,300 followers, states being based in Florida – but is based in Chile. Fan Trump Army, which has 589,600 followers on the platform, enjoyed viral success after being quote tweeted by President Trump over on TruthSocial, and has been found to be tweeting from south Asia. The account later updated its bio to “an Indian who loves America”.
Other conservative influencers, including ones using profiles using Trump family member’s names and photos, often with hundreds of thousands of followers, were found to come from outside the US. The account Barron Trump News, which alone has 583,700, was found to be based in Eastern Europe.
Nikita Bier, the head of product at X/Twitter, announced on Saturday it would roll out the feature to see the country or region where an account is based. He added: “This is an important first step to securing the integrity of the global town square. We plan to provide many more ways for users to verify the authenticity of the content they see on X. And for those in countries where speech has penalties, we’ve included privacy toggles to only show your region.”
The move was widely celebrated on the platform as increasing transparency and keeping users better informed about those they follow. There were also instances of other groups and movements being found to be running by accounts from abroad.
Pro-Democrat accounts were found to be based in Africa, including Kenya, and pro-Israel profiles were seen to be based in India among other countries.
