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Twitter’s latest feature spills the beans on your account details

The goal, according to X, is to fight the plague of bots pretending to be real people.

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Source: Unsplash

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Elon Musk’s X (Twitter) has decided that what our messy timelines really need right now is facts. Specifically, facts about you

Or at least, your account. A new feature called “About this account” is rolling out, giving users a mini transparency report on their own profiles, and eventually, maybe everyone else’s too.

Tap on your “Joined” date, and suddenly your profile starts reading like a digital background check. 

You’ll see where your account is based, how many times you’ve changed your username, when you first joined, and even how you downloaded the app, like through the US App Store or Google Play.

The goal, according to X, is to fight the plague of bots pretending to be real people. 

Because apparently, it’s harder for a fake person to blend in when everyone can see they’ve changed their name 14 times and are “based in Ohio” but somehow posting from three continents at once.

The feature was teased back in October by X’s head of product, Nikita Bier, who previewed it on his own profile and those of X employees. 

Then last weekend, when a user asked Elon Musk to make location info visible on profiles, Bier replied with what can only be described as peak Silicon Valley confidence: “Give me 72 hours.”

And, honestly? He wasn’t bluffing.

Over the past few days, users started spotting the feature on their own profiles like a rare Pokémon. (Via: Tech Crunch)

But there’s a catch: for now, most users can only see their own account details, not other people’s. 

According to TechCrunch, this might be intentional, giving everyone time to double-check their info before mass exposure begins.

X is also letting users choose how specific they want their location to appear. You can show your exact country or just your broader region (like “North America” instead of “USA”). 

Originally, X said this would mainly be for people in countries where sharing your location could be dangerous, but apparently, even Americans get the option to stay vague. 

Freedom of speech, plus freedom of being blurry.

Meanwhile, code detectives have discovered that X might also be working on a VPN detector. If you’re masking your location, the platform could slap a warning on your profile that your region “may not be accurate.” 

Subtweeting, but make it system-generated.

X didn’t officially comment on the rollout, but Bier did joke about all the sightings, because what’s a product launch without a bit of chaos?

And no, this isn’t totally new territory. Instagram has had similar transparency info for years. 

But this is X, so naturally, it comes with more drama, more paranoia, and a slightly stronger vibe of “the algorithm is watching you.”

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Ronil is a Computer Engineer by education and a consumer technology writer by choice. Over the course of his professional career, his work has appeared in reputable publications like MakeUseOf, TechJunkie, GreenBot, and many more. When not working, you’ll find him at the gym breaking a new PR.

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