Posted on 11/25/2025 5:44:48 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
Advocates for transparency on social media cheered this weekend when X, the app owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk, rolled out a new feature that disclosed what the company said were the country locations of accounts.
The feature appeared to unmask a number of accounts that were portraying themselves as belonging to Americans but in reality were based in countries such as India, Thailand and Bangladesh.
But by Monday, the effectiveness and accuracy of the feature were already in question, as security experts, social media researchers and two former X employees said the location information could be inaccurate or spoofed using widely available technology, such as virtual private networks (VPNs), to hide their locations.
The former employees said the idea had been pitched since at least 2018, but had been repeatedly shot down.
“Now that this feature exists, I think it’s absolutely going to be exploited, and people will learn to dodge it very quickly,” said Darren Linvill, a professor and a co-director of Clemson University’s Media Forensics Hub.
The geolocation information began appearing over the weekend on X users’ accounts, where an “about” page displays the month and year users joined, where their accounts are purportedly based, whether they used country-specific app stores and potentially other details.
Previously, the only location information on accounts was what users had entered themselves, which the platform didn’t fact-check. On some accounts, that might be nothing at all or joke locations. X also doesn’t require accounts to use real names, so the new feature kicked off a wave of sleuthing.
It wasn’t immediately clear what data X was using to label accounts’ locations, but like many tech companies, X may have access to signals such as internet protocol (IP) addresses, phone numbers or devices’ GPS data...
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
My understanding, though, is that if you’re on a VPN, it’ll also show that as well.
Of course a lot of cards will say they’re from Intercourse Pennsylvania and other risque locales or places with amusing names.
Would X be able to detect that the location is through a VPN and put a tag on it to warn viewers? At least people will know.
VPN causes me two constant headaches.
1. If I want a shopping site to give me information about local stores (e.g., Home Depot), my VPN says I’m over in Seattle or Los Angeles and I get information about what’s in stock at those Home Depot stores.
2. Lots of graphics won’t display correctly if you are using a VPN. Pookie’s Toons often won’t load unless I turn the VPN off.
NBC complaining, what a joke.
Yes, supposedly with a ! after your location, indicating it is suspect.
The IP addresses of VPN providers are well known, but the only information they get is that your packets are coming from and going to a specific VPN server. The packets between your computer and your VPN are encrypted, so there is no way of identifying your local IP address, which ties you to your Internet Service Provider who could identify you if you weren't using a VPN. All your ISP knows is all your encrypted traffic is going through a VPN server.
Stupid thing to say. Nearly every e-commerce website I go to tells me the location of my IP address.
If you are using a VPN they know the IP address of the VPN server you are using, not your IP address.
There is no way to link the Virtual Private Network IP address assigned to your session by your VPN provider to the IP address assigned to your session by your Internet Service provider.
A VPN is an anonymizer.
Question: If I am in Mumbai, India, and using a VPN, no one will know that I am in Mumbai. But will they know I’m in India? Or will they possibly be told that I am in Germany? or Japan? It seems highly unlikely that the IP address will resolve to, say, California. But I’m not sure how it works.
Virginville, Blue Ball, and possibly the favorite of Orange Man Bad: Bird-in-Hand.
Boring, Oregon.
Yawn.
How does a vpn prevent people from knowing who you are?
A VPN (Virtual Private Network) hides your real identity online by acting as a secure middleman between your device and the internet. Here's exactly how it prevents people (websites, ISPs, advertisers, hackers, etc.) from knowing who you really are:
1. Hides Your Real IP Address (the main way you're identified)
Threat | Can a VPN hide it? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Your real IP from websites | Yes | They only see VPN IP |
Your ISP knowing you use a VPN | No | They see encrypted traffic to VPN server |
Your identity if you log in | No | Logging into Gmail/Facebook reveals who you are |
Malware/keyloggers on your device | No | VPN doesn't protect against local threats |
DNS leaks / WebRTC leaks | Sometimes | Only if the VPN is poorly configured |
Government with massive resources | Partially | Very advanced attackers (NSA-level) may deanonymize in rare cases |
But you have to keep it up all the time I would imagine and things happen. Not sure what happens if you4 location changes.
Express VPN lets you choose different countries to connect through.
It’s good for getting airline tickets because Americans are charged a premium others don’t have to pay.💰
Depends on where the VPN is hosted. Most VPN providers have a list of places you can pick from.
I don’t understand your question. I personally configured our VPN service to my WiFi router, so all my and my wife’s devices are behind a VPN when connected by WiFi.
If you are using public WiFi you can install a VPN app from your VPN provider on your phone or laptop and run it while connected to public WiFi.
People can set up a fake access point from their laptop. When you connect to it to get free internet service they can see everything you are doing, including typing usernames and passwords. If you are behind a VPN you are safe even if you are connected to a fake access point because everything you do is encrypted.
Mouth of Wilson, Virginia
Virginia may be for lovers, but we have Intercourse in Pennsylvania.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.