A new transparency tool on X has revealed that many influential “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) accounts are based outside the United States. Countries identified include Russia, Nigeria, India, Thailand, and parts of Eastern Europe.
The tool, called “about this account,” became available to users on Friday. It shows the location of an account, when it joined X, username change history, and how the app was downloaded.
Soon after the feature went live, users discovered several MAGA and rightwing influencers who claimed to be American were actually operating internationally.
The account MAGANationX, which has nearly 400,000 followers, was found to be run from Eastern Europe. IvankaNews, a fan account of Ivanka Trump with around one million followers, operates from Nigeria. Other accounts like Dark Maga (Thailand), MAGA Scope (Nigeria), and MAGA Beacon (South Asia) were also revealed to be abroad.
Many users shared their findings on Reddit, posting examples of accounts misrepresenting their location. One case involved a user claiming to be in Texas but appearing to be in Russia, though the account later appeared to have a US location.
This comes amid ongoing concerns about bots and misinformation on the platform. The problem intensified after Elon Musk purchased Twitter in October 2022 and renamed it X. The platform’s AI chatbot, Grok, has also been criticized for amplifying false claims.
Some users called the revelations a victory for Democrats and critics of foreign influence, who have long warned about international actors using social media to sway US politics.
