X (formerly Twitter), the social network owned by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, has been embroiled in controversy over a new feature it introduced last week. X's new feature, 'About This Account,' has brought to the fore the debate between digital transparency and privacy rights.

Launched a week ago, on November 22, the feature sparked global controversy after it began publishing the ‘geo location’ of every X user. According to X’s head of product Nikita Bier, the ‘feature’ is a ‘first step’ to combat bot accounts (automatic accounts with the help of software), foreign interference and misinformation.

According to the new feature, when a user clicks on ‘Join Date’ on any public profile, an ‘About This’ section opens. Where it is revealed which country or region the user is operating the account from, when they have been active on X, how many times the user has changed their name, when they have been verified, which device or platform they are connected from, and whether a virtual private network (VPN) or ‘proxy’ is used.

X has stated that the location is determined based on the Internet Protocol address (IP address), Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates and the last 30 days' 'login pattern'. This is also why X has become controversial less than a week after the new feature was introduced.

X users are told that they can select a country or continent on their profile, but they cannot turn off the location feature. However, the location cannot be viewed on government 'gray check' accounts. X's product head Bier stated that the location of 'gray check' accounts has been turned off to 'prevent terrorist acts against the government'.

Influential accounts revealed

In the first week of the release of X's new feature, various influential accounts have been revealed. The accounts of X users who identify themselves as American citizens and have many followers who actively comment on American politics have been revealed. According to BBC Verify, the accounts were found to be operated from India, Thailand, Bangladesh, Russia and Nigeria.

The revelation of X users, both supporters and opponents of US President Donald Trump, was made public. US Ambassador Nikki Haley praised it as a 'win for transparency and US security'. Similarly, thousands of bot (automated accounts) and influence accounts were identified. However, some have taken it for granted. It is not new that foreign 'operatives' have long been using X to comment on US politics.

Privacy mockery

Although the disclosure of various accounts is considered good through transparency, it is also related to users' privacy. The new feature extracts location from technical data and displays it on public profiles without the user's permission. That's why it has become more controversial. Analysts have said that this feature of

X violates users' privacy. Various international organizations have reported that this feature of X constitutes 'doxxing' (revealing the privacy of others without permission). Human rights groups have protested that this feature can block anti-government voices. According to Al Jazeera, this feature is also risky for ordinary users. Al Jazeera mentioned in a report that it endangers people fleeing domestic violence, hiding from stalkers, or wanting to speak anonymously. Is the

location feature only on X? No. The feature of showing locations on social networks is not new, but X's approach is different. Meta's Facebook and Instagram allow users to voluntarily share their location. Snapchat's Snap Map also allows users to share their live location only if they want to. This means that users have full control over sharing their location on Meta and Snapchat.

Similarly, LinkedIn shows general locations for professional networking, which the user has disclosed. And TikTok does not necessarily disclose IP address-based tracking even if it shows the country. X's location feature is different.

Analysts have expressed concern that powerful nations could misuse X's feature. This publicly available information could be used by intelligence agencies. Darren Linville, co-director of Clemson University's Media Forensics Hub, said, "The feature is an invasion of personal privacy and will be misused."