X's new 'transparent' location labels for accounts have people questioning everything

What you need to know

• X (formerly Twitter) brought location labels to account pages, so users can see where others' accounts originate from.
• However, it was quickly realized that some locations were woefully inaccurate or, in some cases, shed light that certain political accounts weren't from the U.S. at all.
• X originally started rolling these labels out to combat its bot problem on the platform, as well as trying to get a hold on misinformation, but as experts say, this will be a "constant game of cat-and-mouse."

X (formerly Twitter) started rolling out a feature over the past couple of weeks, designed to help wrangle in its bot problem, but there are some glaring issues.

As reported by NBC News, X started pushing a new feature called "location labels." The point of these labels is to show where the account originates from. If you've created your X account in the U.S., ideally, your location should say "United States." However, when the feature arrived, users started noticing that their location wasn't accurate at all, which was reportedly a concern by those working at X (formerly Twitter), who "rejected" the idea, per NBC News.

The publication tapped an X employee who remained anonymous, who stated, "the company had decided against deploying the idea in the past for two reasons: concern about creating a visible target for bad actors to manipulate and fear that the label could backfire."

VPNs were also thrust into the discussion, as such software is useful for effectively shifting your location, even if you're not from that country, region, etc. The report takes a turn, as users online, involved in the political side of things, have voiced that people they once thought were based in the U.S. have been shown to reside elsewhere. This brings us to the other side of X's battle: a war against misinformation.

These location labels were also designed to try and help fix that misinformation, giving people the awareness of knowing if the user they've seen posting about American politics is even from the United States. Ellison Barber from NBC News held a brief interview with TechRadar's editor-at-large, Lance Ulanoff, about X's location feature.

To Barber's question about whether or not this could stop X's bot problem "meaningfully" or if it's just a "performative band-aid," Ulanoff states, "I don't think it's going to have much of an impact at all." He adds, "what it's done is started a conversation and sometimes started controversy that may go nowhere."

It's a constant struggle

NBC News cited experts in the field who state, "there’s a constant game of cat-and-mouse between tech companies and adversaries who are trying to avoid detection. At worst, the labels can backfire." Recently, Nikita Bier, head of product at X, reported that the new "About this account" feature had been used "over 360 million times since launch," which likely points toward people who've been genuinely curious about the supposed general location of others.

The social media platform had reported that it was working to fix its inaccuracy for users, especially for those with pages that say their accounts are from a foreign country, when they aren't.

This location label feature is probably the most controversial update to hit the app this year. X updated its mobile app in January with a feature that was more light-hearted, and one that took a fight to TikTok, as it gave users a dedicated video tab on the Explore page. The video feed displays, you guessed it, only videos; however, they are roughly a minute long. Either way, users can "endlessly" scroll through this feed, as if they were drowning in Reels.