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Some users were based in places like Nigeria, Eastern Europe, and India despite posting U.S.-focused right-wing content
Graig Graziosiin Washington, D.C.Monday 24 November 2025 00:25 GMTComments
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Changes at Elon Musk’s X may have unwittingly revealed that many MAGA accounts are actually foreign actors profiting from the sowing of division in the U.S.
On Friday, X introduced a feature called "About This Account," which allows other users to see where an account was based when it joined the site, how often it's changed its username, and by what means they downloaded the X app.
Once the feature was live, political rivals began to dig into each other's accounts, and a trend began to emerge — many popular MAGA and right-wing influencer accounts were not based in the U.S.
The discovery led Democratic influencer Harry Sisson to call it "easily one of the greatest days on this platform," the Daily Beast reports. “Seeing all of these MAGA accounts get exposed as foreign actors trying to destroy the United States is a complete vindication of Democrats, like myself and many on here, who have been warning about this”.
Dozens of right-wing accounts pushing U.S. political content were actually started in places like India, Russia, and Nigeria.
open image in galleryElon Musk’s X social media site introduced a new feature that has unwittingly revealed that many MAGA and right-wing accounts actually were started outside of the U.S. (Getty Images)MAGANationX, for example, includes a bio line that reads "Patriot Voice for We The People," but was actually started in Eastern Europe, according to the new feature.
Another account, using an image of President Donald Trump in a tuxedo and using the name "MAGA Scope" with an American flag emoji, was found to have been started in Nigeria in 2024.
Micah Erfan, a left-wing influencer, noted that "like half of their large accounts were foreigners posing as Americans all along."
There is some question over the accuracy of the information on the "About This Account" pages, as users pointed out that anyone opening their X account while using a VPN could have an origin reflecting the VPN's use and not the actual country where they reside.
Nikita Bier, the head of X's product development, said on Friday that the company was planning to resolve any potential discrepancies that might have been caused by VPNs. She also said that the feature had "a few rough edges" that the company is planning to smooth.
open image in galleryThe "About This User" page for the MAGANationX account on the X social media site showing that it is based in Eastern Europe (X)X users noted on Friday that the feature was removed a few hours after it went live, leading to some speculation that the sudden change was a reaction to the discovery of the right-wing accounts' countries of origin. The feature does appear to be functional again as of this report.
There is virtually nothing stopping someone from a different country using social media sites to sow political division via U.S. politics and earn a profit by doing so.
“Just think about the foreign influence operations that are happening right now on this app,” MeidasTouch co-founder Brett Meiselas said in a video on social media about the development. “Think about the lawmakers who feel pressured by accounts like this. Think about the disinformation that spreads as a result of all these accounts out there.”
The revelation that some MAGA accounts are fabricated is not a revelation to some social media monitors. During the 2024 election cycle, the Centre for Information Resilience, an independent, nonprofit research group, found more than a dozen accounts that stole the photos of European models and influencers and used their images to pose as young, attractive women who support Trump and the broader MAGA-sphere.
Liberal influencer Ed Krassenstein speculated that the MAGA accounts from outside the U.S. were working for foreign governments, though there has been no concrete proof of that for any specific accounts.
Last year, the Department of Justice discovered that a number of popular right-wing influencers were — reportedly — unwittingly working for a company that was actually a Russian influence operation, meaning they were taking payment from a Russian company to push their ideas.
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