How to Identify Foreign Trolls Among MAGA Influencers

The social media platform X made a big change (Foreign Trolls). X, which was once called Twitter, added a new feature. This feature has supposed to make things more clear. It showed the country or region where an account is based. This has done to help users fight fake news.

But this new feature caused a huge storm. It quickly showed something surprising. It exposed that many of the site’s most popular MAGA influencers were not in the United States. Many of these accounts were posting from Nigeria, Bangladesh, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia. Foreign Trolls

This finding gave a lot of credit to researchers. These experts have warned for years. They said that a large number of fake accounts were trying to influence U.S. politics. They said these accounts have run from overseas. This new tool by X helped show that this claim was true.

This article will break down the whole story. We will explain the new feature. It will look at the surprise locations of the MAGA accounts. We will see why this is a major problem for online security. Foreign Trolls

The New Transparency Feature on X Foreign Trolls

The head of product at X, Nikita Bier, launched the new feature. The goal was simple. It was to increase transparency. Transparency means being open and clear. Tech experts say the platform has a lot of false information. This feature was a step to fight that problem. Foreign Trolls

When users looked at an account’s information, a new field appeared. It showed the country or region where the account was based.

The idea was to help people. It would let them see where the information they read was coming from. If an account claims to be an American patriot, but is posting from a foreign country, it raises questions. Foreign Trolls

However, X added a warning. It said the location data “may not be accurate”. It also said the data can change. The location could changed by recent travel. It could also changed by using a VPN. A VPN is a tool that hides a user’s real location. Users in countries with strict speech laws have also given privacy settings. These settings would only show the region.

The Surprise Locations of Top MAGA Accounts Foreign Trolls

Right after the feature went live, the platform exploded. Users started sharing pictures very fast. They were flagging dozens of top accounts. These accounts were well-known. They pushed messages like “Make America Great Again” (MAGA). They also promoted “America First” slogans. Foreign Trolls

The location data showed these accounts were operating from countries far from the U.S.

• One account pretended to be a patriotic U.S. general. This account, has found to be posting from Turkey.
• Another very popular account, @AmericanVoice__, has suddenly shown to run from South Asia. This account quickly vanished. It deleted itself right after the exposure. Foreign Trolls
• Other accounts have flagged in places like Nigeria, Bangladesh, and Eastern Europe.

One account with over a million followers has suspended. It was posing as a fan page for Ivanka Trump. Users found its location was Nigeria. This account regularly posted pro-Trump messages. It also posted anti-immigration content.

A liberal influencer, Ed Krassenstein, posted about the surprise. He wrote, “Why are so many MAGA influencers from outside the U.S.? It’s almost as if they are working for foreign governments.” The feature was shocking to many people.

What Researchers Have Said For Years

This event was not a complete surprise for everyone. It was a victory for disinformation researchers. They have been studying these patterns for a long time. They warned that large networks of fake accounts were operating overseas.

One network of accounts was studied. These accounts claimed to be “Trump-supporting independent women.” They used stolen pictures of European models. The new X feature helped confirm the truth. It showed that many of these accounts were actually based in Thailand. Some were even linked to Myanmar. Foreign Trolls

Before this new tool, researchers had a hard job. They had to use clues. These had to look for mistakes in the accounts’ posts. They checked the time that posts were made. They looked for odd language. All of this helped them see that the accounts were fake. The new location data gave them clear proof. It linked many of these fake accounts to Southeast Asia. This helped them get closer to knowing who was behind the operations. Foreign Trolls

This kind of work is part of an influence operation. This means that foreign groups are trying to sway what Americans think. They want to create chaos and division. This use the MAGA message to gain followers. They use the love for President Trump to push their own goals.

The Problem of Foreign Trolls and Financial Gain

The exposure of these foreign accounts highlights a bigger problem. Many of these overseas influencers are not just doing this for fun. They are often driven by the chance of making money.

Social media platforms have systems. These systems reward posts that get a lot of attention. Controversy attracts attention. The foreign trolls post things that make people angry or very emotional. This gets them high engagement. High engagement leads to more clicks and more followers. This can sometimes lead to direct payment from the platform.

This turns American political debate into a global business outsourcing unit. People in far-off countries are paid to stir up trouble in the U.S. They are paid to make a political fight even harder. The new feature “shines a light on a fundamental problem with social media today,” said one professor. She said that paid actors are making difficult issues worse because it brings them attention.

The Danger of Scaled-Back Moderation Foreign Trolls

This finding comes at a bad time. Many large tech companies are making changes. They are scaling back content moderation. These are using fewer human fact-checkers. They want to replace staff with Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Disinformation researchers are worried about this. They warn that it is creating a huge opening. They say that actors from Russia and China are a growing threat. These actors want to create political chaos in Western countries. The lack of human oversight makes it easier for them to succeed.

The foreign actors are not always working for a government. Sometimes they are just groups seeking financial gain. But their actions are the same. They divide Americans. They make people question real facts. This hurts the trust that Americans have in their own institutions and leaders. The fake MAGA influencers are often just political actors. They are helping a form of political subversion. They try to weaken America from the inside.

A Look at the Account Location Issue

The new feature had some issues. It was removed for a short time. X said it had “a few rough edges” that needed fixing. There was a moment of confusion. The location of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) account was briefly shown as being in Israel. DHS quickly denied this. They said their account is only operated from the U.S.

This shows that the location data can be tricky. The use of a VPN can hide a real location. The data might not always be perfectly correct. However, for a huge number of accounts to suddenly appear outside the U.S. is still very telling. It confirms that the problem of foreign interference is real and widespread.

Elon Musk’s X platform meant for the feature to increase trust. It did the opposite for many top accounts. It showed that some of the loudest voices in U.S. politics are not even American. This forces the country to deal with a difficult truth. Much of the online political discourse is being shaped by actors who are far away. These actors have their own goals.

Read More Articles Click Here. Read Previous Article Click Here. Inspired By Al-Jazeera.