New location feature on Elon Musk's X 'weaponised' to spread misinformation
Some experts say the new location tool breached the trust of X users. (Reuters: Patrick Pleul)
In short:
Social media platform X launched a new location tool globally over the weekend.
The company said it was created to verify the authenticity of users and increase the integrity of the platform.
An expert says the new tool was a breach of user trust and actually increased mis- and disinformation on the platform.
A new location tool on Elon Musk's X, formerly Twitter, is being used to fuel confusion and misinformation, an expert says.
The social platform announced last month it planned to show the country where an account was based to "verify authenticity" of profiles, and began to roll it out in the "about this account" feature over the weekend.
Questions have been raised about the accuracy of the locations.
Daniel Angus, director of Queensland University's Digital Media Research Centre, described the new tool as "weaponised decontextualisation".
He explained it as taking a small piece of information and using it out of context.
For example, a user might have their location hidden by using a VPN or might not have updated it.
"So the location information that they've got is not necessarily accurate in terms of where that person is right now," Professor Angus said.
"The problem with this is how some will now try and weaponise it to say things and disparage certain individuals or try and discredit their accounts."
When the feature was announced
In October, X's head of product Nikita Bier announced in a post the new location feature would be rolled out.
"When you read content on X, you should be able to verify its authenticity. This is critical to getting a pulse on important issues happening in the world," she said.
"As part of that, we're experimenting with displaying new information on profiles, including which country an account is based, among other details."
A few weeks later, Mr Bier was asked by some X users to ensure the new feature allowed for the information about accounts location to be made public because "foreign bots" were tearing America apart.
He responded immediately with: "Give me 72 hours."
Over the weekend the feature was launched globally.
Mr Bier said the feature would be the first step in "securing the integrity of the global town square".
"We plan to provide many more ways for users to verify the authenticity of the content they see on X," he said in a post.
What happened once it launched
But the new feature triggered a flurry of posts from users saying the new feature misrepresented where they were located.
One of them was journalist Motasem A Dalloul, who has been reporting on the war in Gaza.
His location was listed as Poland, which led to the official Israeli Foreign Ministry account on X questioning his reporting, suggesting it was "fake".
A screenshot of Gaza-based journalist Motasem A Dalloul account location details on X.com. (Supplied)
The new tool was shown to have inaccuracies.
The confusion prompted Mr Dalloul to post a video.
Some prominent Australian examples include ABC News listed as based in Ireland, and the Australian Labor Party in the United States.
The Australian National University's Strategic Defence Studies account is also listed as based in India, and Australia's National Cyber Security Coordinator in the United States.
It has left some Australian users confused.
"ANU Strategic and Defence Studies Centre is based in India. Wtf?," one user posted on X.
A merged image showing the location details of both the ANU's Strategic Defence Studies and Australia's National Cyber Security Coordinator accounts on social platform X. (Supplied)
The social platform has included a small disclaimer near the location button saying the data might not be accurate.
"The country or region that an account is based can be impacted by recent travel or temporary relocation. This data may not be accurate and can change periodically," the disclaimer read.
The ABC sought comment from the platform but has not received a response.
University of New South Wales's Dr Elaine Jing Zhao questioned the accuracy of X's new location tool because the location data was likely masked by VPNs.
She said there were a number of reasons people used VPNs — from accessing censored geo-restricted content or wanting to protect their online activities.
For that reason, she said the tool could offer some information but it was limited.
"What matters here is not only whether people's use of VPN is detected, but also and perhaps more importantly, how this is interpreted," she said.
"Given the various scenarios where people use VPNs it can have unintended consequences."
Professor Angus added there were use cases for the new location tool when it came to coordinated unauthentic activity on social media platforms.
But not for individual accounts.
"This information en masse could be a useful signal to add to other key information sources we already have about those accounts to confirm or perhaps give further evidence that these accounts might not be genuine," he said.
"But certainly when it comes to essentially plucking out or cherry picking individual accounts … we can't use that as a reliable information source to say, 'oh look, this person isn't where they say they are'."
X's attempts at transparency 'hollow'
The new location feature represented a breach of user trust, according to Professor Angus.
When signing up to social media platforms, users were often asked to reveal sensitive information with the expectation that only certain things would be made public.
"For a lot of users they weren't necessarily aware that the location information that they'd entered was something that was going to be made as public," he said.
Professor Angus was also unconvinced by X's message that the new feature was an attempt to increase transparency and integrity on the platform.
He highlighted research from the QUT's digital research centre showing Mr Musk posts on X were inflated during the US election last year.
"X has no interest in maintaining information integrity in any way, shape or form,"he said.
"Since Musk's takeover he's allowed mis- and disinformation to thrive on the platform.
"Anything they say about potential safety features [is] always going to be taken as it's just ringing completely hollow."