X location feature reveals origin of anti-Israel, antisemitic

X’s head of product, Nikita Bier, announced that this is part of a drive to “secure the integrity” of the site and allow users to verify the authenticity of the content they see there. Since the rollout, X users have uncovered scores of accounts with a mismatch between claimed identity and actual location. A myriad of high-following, anti-Israel, nameless accounts have now been revealed to be based in Turkey or Pakistan.

The location feature has already seen complaints about inaccuracy, but allegations about misleading operating locations for popular accounts have seen either them close shop or provide explanations to defend their legitimacy. Since the purchase of the giant social media platform by entrepreneur Elon Musk in 2022, X has been branded as a digital town square that allowed for the replacement of legacy media with citizen journalism.

Yet, on Saturday, the implementation of the location feature highlighted the questionable origins of anonymous news accounts that have gained popularity in disseminating anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian, and pro-Iranian axis content. With names suggesting truthful knowledge forbidden by mainstream media, such accounts have flourished on a platform that allows for monetization of posts.

One such account, Silenced Sirs, claims to amplify “Lebanese voices” and sports a Lebanese flag in its biography, but it appeared to have connected to X through the US app store and may be based in the Congo. X notifications warned that this account, as with others, might not have an accurate date due to recent travel or temporary location. Another account, Censored Voice, may have originated in South Asia and has had 24 username changes since it was created last August.

Some accounts, such as Suppressed News, have argued that they never pretended to be American and indicated that they were from the Middle East, but critics noted the account’s US-centric posts and dictates about the nature of the “America first” movement.

“Do I need to be from America to be Anti-Israel?” responded Suppressed News, whose account may be from North Africa. “Yes, I’m part of the people who suffer because of foreign nations and because of Zionists.”

The Resonance, which has often attacked the US-Israel relationship from a far-right American rhetorical perspective, explained that its account is used by multiple users from three different locations.

“We want to clarify that we didn’t ever claim to represent any particular place or people,” the Resonance insisted. “We post about every country equally, without favoritism.”

Tiberius, an account attesting to be owned by an anti-Israel, far-left British journalist, is allegedly based in Thailand and has had 24 username changes since 2018.

High-profile Palestinian or Gazan news sites claiming to be reporting from the ground may have been revealed to be in other locations. The Times of Gaza, which has almost a million followers – and whose bio says “Location: Palestine” – is actually based in the East Asia and Pacific region and is logged in via a North African App Store. Likewise, Gaza Now Arabic is based in Turkey.

Popular Palestinian journalist Mohammad Smiry, who has nearly a million followers and claims to be in Gaza posting about “life under occupation,” is geolocated to Indonesia. Simry challenged X’s location designation, claiming that “Twitter is showing wrong locations for Palestinians; my account showed Indonesia because my brother is there and has access to my account.”

News accounts were not the only ones brought into question by the new feature. Many of the accounts of private individuals claiming to be living through the “genocide” in Gaza are not in fact located there, or in Palestine. Ameer in Gaza @abu-hafed1 posts about starving in Gaza and asks for donations, but is geolocated to the UK. A well-known account – Mahmoud in Gaza – is actually in the Netherlands. An account supposedly belonging to Dima Alghrbawi has raised $34,000 through a GoFundMe fundraiser, and while the person may be authentic, it is brought into question by several indications that the account was created and based in Nigeria.

Scores of other accounts of Palestinians living in Gaza follow the same pattern. Others are located in North Africa, Nigeria, the UK, India, Poland, and Canada. Many ask for donations to support their lives in Gaza, but apparently do not reside there.

Concerns have been raised by some X users about the presence of foreign actors involving themselves in political movements, either for manipulation or monetization.  The General is an anti-Israel, ethno-nationalist, far-right account, but according to the platform, it was created and is based in Turkey. It has a large reach, often obtaining millions of views per post. The Readers Notes feature (which allows users to add context under a post) now shows that it “is based in Turkey and is claiming to be in the US” under each of the account’s posts.

Some “Groyper” or “America First” accounts claiming to represent a more radical American Right have been shown to not be American at all. There are also more pro-Israel MAGA accounts that appear to be directed from abroad. One such account, American Voice, appeared to have been deleted after the location feature went live.

Anti-Israel and pro-Israel activist accounts have not been immune from the phenomenon. The popular anti-Israel and antisemitic account Khalisee was deleted after being accused of being based in Pakistan.

Anti-Zionist accounts not based in the West

Ibn Riad, a supposedly de-colonial activist account based in Lebanon, allegedly was created and is based in Hungary. One account focused on AIPAC was found to have been based in Egypt. Torah Judaism, ostensibly representing anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews, is allegedly based in the Philippines.

Israel Exposed, which documents alleged Israeli war crimes, was highlighted by conservative pundit Matt Walsh as being created and based in Saudi Arabia. The account explained that it was founded by an American citizen working in the kingdom, and that it had not been a secret. While there was a history of the account referring to its operation in Saudi Arabia, there was also a lengthy post history calling for other Americans to be deported from the US.

Pro-Iran communist activist Jackson Hinkle is a real person, but the new feature revealed a peculiarity in which his X account was based in Burkina Faso.

Many pro-Israel accounts, particularly those featuring attractive female IDF soldiers in their profiles, have been revealed to be inauthentic. One account called Aliya was also created and is based in Nigeria. Another, called Leah Shlomo, was deleted after the new feature was unveiled. Pro-Israel account Mariana Times, which has over 78,000 followers and supposedly belongs to an Israeli woman, is allegedly based in India.

The new X feature has also revealed multiple individual accounts allegedly of Iranian citizens to be somehow connected to the Islamic Republic regime. This is because access to the popular platform is illegal in Iran and has been blocked since 2009. While many Iranians use VPNs to circumvent the ban, this would be flagged under the new feature. If users are located in Iran and have logged in through an Iranian app, this indicates that they are approved of by the regime.

This is in contrast to some influential anti-Islamic Republic [and sometimes pro-Israel] accounts working to restore Iran’s monarchy, which have been revealed to be based inside the country, using VPNs to hide their IP addresses due to fear. For example, users such as Adam Hesabi, Twelfth Imam, and YaarGhadimi are listed in foreign countries but have connected through Iran Android App. Those using a VPN have an exclamation mark next to their location.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry praised X for promoting transparency and accountability, saying that the feature ripped the mask off countless fake “Gazan” accounts. “Some chap posting from Pakistan, another in London. Another manipulative abuser somewhere else,” said the ministry. “All claiming to be suffering in Gaza while in the comfort of some coffee shop far away.”

Middle East analyst Eitan Fischberger, who documented many of the revelations on his own account, said that, “For years, those of us who follow this space have warned that there’s a coordinated foreign effort to inject toxic narratives into the American discourse around Israel. “Claims like ‘America is occupied by Zionists,’ that Jeffrey Epstein was an Israeli agent controlling US politicians, or that US housing prices are high because of foreign aid to Israel didn’t just appear organically. They were designed to sever the historic, unparalleled US-Israel partnership,” said Fischberger.

“What this new feature on X is exposing is that many of the loudest accounts pushing these ideas aren’t even based in the United States. They’re posting from Saudi Arabia, North Africa, Nigeria, Turkey, Pakistan – often while portraying themselves as Americans,” he said. “It confirms what many of us suspected: A huge portion of this conversation has been astroturfed, not grassroots.”

Michael Starr, Mathilda Heller