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When Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022, he repeatedly promised to reduce the number of bots on the site and outlined plans to “authenticate all real humans.” Today, in 2025, the true bot numbers of the social networking site known as Add to that the fact that these plans to authenticate real users have now been replaced with a paid verification system, and it’s clear that the site is still figuring out how to deal with fake users. The most recent project? Put some of your personal information in an “About this account” section on your profile page.
In an article published this week by X, Nikita Bier, head of product for This includes the country a user is based in, when they joined the site, how many times they have changed their username, and how they access the site (via computer or through the app, for example).
The idea, Bier says, is that verifying this information will allow users to “verify [an account’s] authenticity.” For example, if you receive a spam email with a group of suspicious followers and they all appear to be new accounts from the same region, you may be able to deduce that you are being targeted by some sort of coordinated spam attack.
However, at the same time, the new section poses privacy concerns. One user, for example, asked Bier if X accounts could opt out of having the country they’re based in displayed for everyone to see. Another, apparently supportive of the new system, asked if the page could include information about the device a user is posting from, to which Bier responded that the team is “experimenting with various device details so users can make a judgment about authenticity.” Yeah.
While none of this is as aggressive as simply posting your address, it still pulls back the curtain a little more than I’d like and leaves room for others to make judgments about you based on geography, or if Bier follows up on that second point, your phone model.
What do you think of it so far?
Fortunately, it is not yet guaranteed that this feature will be available to everyone. Bier says the initial test will begin with “a handful of Team X members for feedback.” And it must be recognized that he was reactive in his responses to his message, recognizing that in “countries where speech can be sanctioned, we should replace the country with the region”.
If the new section bothers you, now is the time to talk about it. If, however, it ever reaches your profile, there is a glimmer of hope. Bier says that if you don’t want certain information made public on your profile, “there will be privacy buttons.” However, if a user sets them up, he says, “it will probably be highlighted on their profile.”
For my money, I’ve basically gone from X at this point, and robots are a big reason why. Still, I’m not sure that encouraging users to judge each other based on where they are (or even username changes, which are common during spooky season) is the right move. While some countries are more associated with inauthentic accounts than others, real users live everywhere, and implying that readers should reject others simply based on where they are is likely to add even more toxicity to the pile. Take this bizarre response to Bier’s announcement, which implies that…Canada?…is full of trolls.
