Elon Musk’s X has begun rolling out a new function for person profiles that can show details about the account, together with the place it’s based mostly, what number of instances the account has modified its username, the account’s authentic be part of date, and the way the person downloaded the X app. The brand new info is supposed to cut back inauthentic engagement on the platform, the place bots usually faux to be people — an issue that might get even more durable to police within the age of AI.
X’s plans for the function have been first introduced in October, when X’s head of product Nikita Bier stated the corporate would experiment with displaying this info on profiles, beginning together with his personal account and people of X workers. The thought is that, by exposing these particulars, customers would be capable of make a extra knowledgeable choice about whether or not they’re interacting with an genuine account or if the account was a bot or unhealthy actor, seeking to sow discord or unfold misinformation.
For example, if an X account’s bio claimed the person was from a U.S. state, however their account info reveals that they’re based mostly abroad, you would possibly suspect they’d one other agenda.
Final weekend, Bier responded to a publish the place a person had requested Elon Musk to require accounts to show details about the place they’re based mostly by saying to the person, “Give me 72 hours.”
Within the days since, extra individuals have seen the “About this account” function develop into accessible on their very own profiles.
To view your account info on the net or within the X cellular app, you’ll click on on the “Joined” date in your profile. From right here, you’re taken to a web page that reveals the date you joined Twitter/X, the place your account relies, what number of username adjustments have been performed and when the final one was, and the way you’re related to X — like through the U.S. App Retailer or Google Play, as an illustration.
However whereas some customers globally are reporting that the function has appeared on their very own profiles, TechCrunch isn’t in a position to entry this account info on different individuals’s profiles as of press time. That could possibly be as a result of X desires to offer customers time to preview their info for accuracy and alter their settings earlier than it rolls out extra broadly.
Particularly, X permits customers to regulate whether or not or not the function shows their nation or if it solely shows their geographical area. Initially, the corporate had stated this may be an choice in areas the place free speech might have penalties, however we’re discovering that even U.S. customers can select to set their profile to show both their nation or their area/continent. (Nation is the default, nonetheless.)
To make the change, you possibly can entry the “About your account” setting beneath the X app’s “Privacy and Safety” settings.
One reverse engineer digging by the app’s code (see beneath) additionally discovered that X seems to be engaged on a further function that may show a warning in your account should you have been utilizing a VPN to masks your location. It’s unclear if or when that function would go reside, but when it does, it will flag to others that the person’s “country or region may not be accurate.”
X didn’t reply to a request for remark in regards to the rollout.
X isn’t the primary social community to supply this stage of transparency to customers. Instagram has lengthy provided an identical “About this account” function, as an illustration.
