X Rolls Out ‘About This Account’ Feature To Users’ Profiles

Elon Musk’s X is introducing a new profile feature that displays key account details, such as location, username change history, original join date, and the method used to download the app. The new feature, which can be accessed by tapping the user’s “joined date” on their profile, includes varying critical data regarding the account’s history and origin. 

This feature’s major objective is to allow users to verify the legitimacy of the accounts with which they communicate. This update aims to curb inauthentic activity on the platform, where bots frequently impersonate real users with a challenge to becoming more complex with the rise of AI.

Last month, the feature which was made available to web and iOS users, and it is now being expanded to Android. Users can choose whether their specific nation or a larger region (e.g., continent) is displayed by going to the ‘About your account’ settings under “Privacy and Safety,” albeit the country is the default. X has said that if you choose not to reveal location information, user’s profile may be labelled as hidden. The company is also apparently developing a feature that will alert users if a VPN is being used to conceal their genuine location.

X initially revealed its plans for this feature in October, when Head of Product Nikita Bier announced that the company would test displaying account details on profiles, beginning with his own and those of X staff. The goal is to help users better assess the authenticity of an account by revealing key information which will now make it easier to identify bots or malicious actors attempting to spread misinformation or create disruption.

For example, if an X account’s bio states that the user is from the United States, but their account information shows that they are based overseas, you might believe they have a hidden motive.

Sometimes over the weekend, Bier replied to a post in which a user requested Elon Musk to mandate location disclosure on accounts, saying, “Give me 72 hours.”

More people have since discovered the “About this account” section on their own profiles.

To check your account information on the web or in the X mobile app, click on the “Joined” date in your profile. From here, you’re led to a page that displays the date you joined Twitter/X, the location of your account, how many username changes you’ve made and when the last one was, and how you’re connected to X, such as through the U.S. App Store or Google Play.

However, while several users around the world have reported that the functionality has surfaced on their personal profiles, the press team is unable to access this account information on other people’s pages as of press time. This may be intended to give some X users time to review their details and adjust their settings before the feature becomes active.

X, in particular, allows users to specify whether the feature should display their country or just their geographical location. Initially, the firm stated that this would be an option in areas where free expression could be penalised, but we’ve discovered that even US customers can select to display either their country or their region/continent. (The country is the default, though.)

Users can apply the update by simply going to the “About Your Account” section under the “Privacy and Safety” settings in the X app.

A reverse engineer going into the app’s code (see below) discovered that X appears to be working on an additional feature that would display a warning on your account if you were using a VPN to hide your location. It is not clear when or if that option will be available, but if it is, it will alert others that the user’s “country or region may not be accurate.”

X declined to comment on the rollout.

X isn’t the first social platform to provide this level of transparency that Instagram, for instance, has offered a similar “About This Account” feature for some time.