X announced Tuesday it will begin testing new transparency features that display users’ country of origin and username change history on their profiles, a move aimed at combating misinformation and fake accounts.
Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, said the company will pilot the feature next week on select employee profiles before a broader rollout.
“When you read content on X, you should be able to verify its authenticity,” Bier wrote in a post announcing the change. “This is critical to getting a pulse on important issues happening in the world.”
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The new profile section will show which country an account is based in, when the account was created, how many times the username has changed, and connection source information, according to a mockup shared by Bier.
The feature may be optional for users, similar to Instagram’s location display, though accounts that choose to hide the information could have that decision noted on their profile.
The announcement comes as X intensifies efforts to curb spam and fake accounts. Bier said the platform removed 1.7 million bot accounts engaged in reply spam last week alone.
The company says displaying country information could help users identify foreign influence operations and compromised accounts, which often change usernames after being hacked to deceive existing followers.
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