As artificial intelligence advances, enabling bots to mimic human behavior more convincingly, Elon Musk’s X platform is rolling out a new feature aimed at increasing transparency about the users behind X profiles. This initiative is designed to help users better understand who they are interacting with on the platform.
Nikita Bier, head of product at X, announced that the social network will soon experiment with showing additional information on user profiles. This could include the account creation date, the user’s location, the number of times their username has changed, and details about how they use X’s services.
The goal is to empower users to make more informed judgments about whether an account is genuine or potentially operated by bots or malicious actors spreading misinformation.
For example, if an account claims to be based in a specific U.S. state but shows overseas activity or the app was downloaded from an international store, users might suspect ulterior motives. Likewise, frequent username changes combined with such discrepancies could be red flags indicating suspicious behavior.
Bier shared that initial testing will begin with some X employee profiles next week to gather feedback before a wider rollout. Importantly, users will have the option to opt out of displaying this information. However, those who choose privacy settings restricting visibility will have this choice highlighted on their profiles.
Addressing concerns about revealing precise location data—especially in regions where speech may be penalized—Bier noted that X might substitute a broader region or country instead of detailed location information to protect user safety.
The concept of revealing more about social media accounts to enhance trust isn’t new. Instagram, for instance, already offers an “About this profile” section, where users can see how long an account has existed, the country it’s based in, and username change history, as explained recently by Instagram’s head, Adam Mosseri, at Bloomberg’s Screentime conference. Mosseri hinted that Instagram might expand this transparency in the future.
If fully deployed, X’s new feature could help mitigate trust issues on the platform. However, seasoned scammers and spammers often find ways to bypass such measures.
This update comes hot on the heels of X’s recent bot purge, during which the platform removed 1.7 million bots that were generating reply spam, signaling its ongoing commitment to improving authenticity and user experience.
