Why X’s location feature has caused so much confusion and criticism

Elon Musk’s social platform continues to fine-tune feature designed to increase authenticity

Elon Musk's social media platform, X, had a disappointing introduction of its new location feature.

Social media platform X has caused outrage over a new location feature that allows users to see countries or regions where accounts are based.

It is the latest of many controversies since Elon Musk took over the platform formerly known as Twitter.

On Saturday, X’s head of product development Nikita Bier announced that the platform would be introducing the location feature.

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“This is an important first step to securing the integrity of the global town square,” Mr Bier said in a post. “We plan to provide many more ways for users to verify the authenticity of the content they see."

Developers at X confirmed that they were trying to methodically tweak a new feature designed to show potentially inauthentic user behaviour.

In theory, with a few clicks or taps, you would be able to see approximate locations from which users were posting but when the feature went live, it caused widespread anger.

The location labels seemed to confirm that several accounts known for posts praising President Donald Trump were actually based outside the US, fuelling concerns over foreign figures trying to influence American politics.

In other instances, some X account users were perplexed by their own locations. As controversy mounted, X’s development team sought to calm the waters.

“There are a few rough edges that will be resolved,” Mr Bier posted on X. He said that older accounts were facing problems with location, blaming bad data as a result.

A new feature designed to flag inauthentic behaviour on X confirmed the fears of some, but also caused confusion in other circles.

Mr Bier did not disclose exactly what metrics were used to determine account locations.

Technology analysts say the many factors such that complicate the task of location tracking, including Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), which preserve anonymity and often show false locations.

In a post on the Threads social platform, Olga Belogolova, director of the emerging technology initiative at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, said incorrect location labels on X could be the result of several factors.

The Threads post from Olga Belogolova, director of the emerging technology initiative at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

“As tempting as it is to dunk on the ‘United States’ accounts posting from unexpected places, I would caution folks not to jump to conclusions,” said Ms Belogolova, who previously worked as threat intelligence analyst at Meta and identified influence operations.

“It is a mix of VPNs, travellers, false positives and yes, some bad actors, but an IP address alone is not proof of a foreign influence operation.”

There was at least one positive review, however.

Nikki Haley, who was Mr Trump’s UN ambassador and challenged him for the Republican endorsement last year, said that she liked X’s approach.

“I have long said foreign actors are using social media to poison our politics and divide Americans,” Ms Haley posted, calling the company’s approach “a huge win” and urging other social platforms to do the same.

X provided a disclaimer while it continues to fine-tune the feature.

“The country or region that an account is based can be impacted by recent travel or temporary relocation,” it reads. “This data may not be accurate.”

The current wrangling harkens back to a popular cartoon that appeared in The New Yorker magazine as the internet was beginning to explode on the scene.

It shows a dog on an office chair using a computer desk, speaking to another canine.

“On the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog,” the cartoon’s caption read.