X Location Feature Exposes Foreign-Based Accounts Posing as American Patriots and Gaza Journalists
This week, Elon Musk’s X platform rolled out a simple feature that changed everything. The new tool reveals where accounts are actually based—not where they claim to be, but where they’re really posting from. The unmasking began immediately, and what emerged should disturb every American who values truth.
When you read content on X, you should be able to verify its authenticity. This is critical for staying informed about important issues happening in the world. Part of this is showing new information in accounts, including the country an account is located in, among other things.
Consider “@1776General_,” an account with over 140,000 followers that describes itself as a “constitutionalist, patriot and ethnically American.” The profile claims to be U.S.-based, fighting for traditional American values. The new X feature revealed the truth: this “patriot” is posting from Turkey. When exposed, the account scrambled to explain it was just “working on a contract” overseas. Right. And I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
The deception runs deeper than fake patriots. Accounts claiming to be journalists reporting from Gaza, complete with heart-wrenching stories and donation links, turned out to be operating from Poland, Egypt, and East Asia. The Times of Gaza, with nearly a million followers, claims “Location: Palestine” but is actually based in East Asia. Multiple accounts soliciting donations for “starving families in Gaza” were exposed as operating from the UK, Netherlands, and Nigeria. One account raised $34,000 through GoFundMe while apparently posting from Nigeria, not Gaza.
Even more disturbing, popular accounts that spent months pushing narratives about “Zionist control” of America and spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jeffrey Epstein being an Israeli agent weren’t even American. They were posting from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and North Africa while pretending to be concerned American citizens. Let me ask you something—how does it feel knowing that the ‘patriot’ you’ve been retweeting is actually some guy in Islamabad making money off your outrage? As Middle East analyst Eitan Fischberger observed, these toxic narratives “didn’t just appear organically. They were designed to sever the historic, unparalleled U.S.-Israel partnership.”
When you read content on X, you should be able to verify its authenticity. This is critical for staying informed about important issues happening in the world. Part of this is showing new information in accounts, including the country an account is located in, among other things.
Consider “@1776General_,” an account with over 140,000 followers that describes itself as a “constitutionalist, patriot and ethnically American.” The profile claims to be U.S.-based, fighting for traditional American values. The new X feature revealed the truth: this “patriot” is posting from Turkey. When exposed, the account scrambled to explain it was just “working on a contract” overseas. Right. And I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.
The deception runs deeper than fake patriots. Accounts claiming to be journalists reporting from Gaza, complete with heart-wrenching stories and donation links, turned out to be operating from Poland, Egypt, and East Asia. The Times of Gaza, with nearly a million followers, claims “Location: Palestine” but is actually based in East Asia. Multiple accounts soliciting donations for “starving families in Gaza” were exposed as operating from the UK, Netherlands, and Nigeria. One account raised $34,000 through GoFundMe while apparently posting from Nigeria, not Gaza.
Even more disturbing, popular accounts that spent months pushing narratives about “Zionist control” of America and spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jeffrey Epstein being an Israeli agent weren’t even American. They were posting from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and North Africa while pretending to be concerned American citizens. Let me ask you something—how does it feel knowing that the ‘patriot’ you’ve been retweeting is actually some guy in Islamabad making money off your outrage? As Middle East analyst Eitan Fischberger observed, these toxic narratives “didn’t just appear organically. They were designed to sever the historic, unparalleled U.S.-Israel partnership.”
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