As AI makes it easier to create bots that act ever more human-like, Elon Musk’s X is developing a new feature that would expose more information about the users behind an X profile, in an effort to help people better understand who they’re talking to on the platform.
According to a new post by X’s head of product Nikita Bier, the social network will begin experimenting with displaying more information on user profiles, including details such as the date the account was created, its location, the number of username changes it has undergone, and how it’s utilizing X’s service.
The idea is that by exposing some of these details, users will be able to 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.
For instance, if an account’s bio claims they’re based in a U.S. state, but their account information shows it’s based overseas, you may suspect the account has another agenda.
Similarly, if it shows they’ve downloaded the X app in an international app store, but pretend they’re from the U.S., you may also question their legitimacy. (That’s not to say that someone couldn’t have started an account elsewhere and then relocated to the U.S., but it’s a signal that could be combined with others — like multiple username changes, perhaps — that could raise red flags.)
Bier said that X will begin testing the feature first on some X employee profiles next week to get feedback before rolling it out more broadly. He also noted in a response to a question about user privacy that people would be able to opt out of having this information displayed. However, he pointed out, “if a user configures [the privacy toggles], that will likely be highlighted on their profile.”
He also addressed concerns over exposing people’s location, given that there are some areas where speech could have penalties, saying that X may substitute region for country in those cases.
The idea of displaying more information about a social media account to help users understand who they may be engaged with on social media is not new. In a recent interview at Bloomberg’s Screentime conference, for instance, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said that users on the photo and video-sharing app today could visit someone’s profile and see a similar set of information.
“Today, if you go to my profile, you can go to ‘About this profile,’ and you can see how long I’ve had this profile, what country I’m based in, how many times I’ve changed my username — a series of signals that you can use to decide how much you want to trust or not trust,” he said, noting that Instagram may “do more” to provide additional context in the future.
The changes on X, if they roll out publicly, could help to address issues around trust to some extent, though scammers and spammers often have effective ways of working around attempts at exposure.
The news follows a recent bot purge on X, where the company removed 1.7 million bots engaging in reply spam.
