X's New 'About This Account' Feature Aims to Combat Misinformation Despite Initial Accuracy Issues

Elon Musk's social media platform X has introduced a new feature called "About this account" that provides users with information about a profile's location, creation date, and username change history.

This new tool aims to help people verify account authenticity amid the increasing presence of bots and AI-generated accounts on the platform.

Following months of internal discussions, X has finally implemented this feature which was first announced in October. Initially, the company's head of product Nikita Bier mentioned that the tool would be available only on his profile and those of X employees before wider distribution.

Users can access this feature by clicking on the "Joined" date displayed on an X profile. The subsequent page reveals important information including the account creation date, the location where the account is based, the number of username changes with the date of the most recent change, and how the user connects to X (via Google Play or App Store).

This transparency tool can be particularly useful for identifying potentially misleading accounts. For instance, if an account frequently engages with Mumbai politics but was created very recently and shows a different country as its primary location, users might recognize it as a potentially coordinated or inauthentic profile.

Bier stated that this transparency measure would help users "make a more informed decision about whether someone is operating an authentic account or if they're possibly a bot or bad actor attempting to sow misinformation."

However, shortly after rollout, users reported inaccuracies in their "About this account" sections. One user named 'Canadian Beaver' complained that their country was incorrectly displayed as the United States despite being based in Canada. Bier responded by acknowledging the issue, stating, "Fixing this now. Looks like Starlink threw us off."

Other users reported incorrect account creation locations. When one user reported their account creation location wrongly showing as Korea, Bier explained, "We identified the problem: it looks like you used a VPN to register your account in '22. We are adding an indicator on that row on Monday for Android and iOS and it will be live on web tomorrow."

According to Mashable, these accuracy issues led to the feature being temporarily removed, though it appears to have been reinstated.

While X presents this feature as a move toward greater transparency, similar tools already exist on other platforms. For example, Instagram's "About this profile" section displays information about an account's age, base country, and username history.