X is preparing a new tool that could help people figure out which accounts are real and which might be fake. X Head of Product Nikita Bier announced that the company will roll out an “About this account” feature. This screen will show basic details about each user, such as their location, how long they have had the account, and how many times they have changed their username.
Bier said the feature will appear first on X staff profiles before reaching other users. The idea is that people can judge whether the source of information they are reading looks trustworthy. This comes after the influx of fake or automated accounts continue to impact conversations, promote scams and worst of all: flood timelines with misinformation.
Musk has long complained about bots on X, saying they distort engagement numbers and make it harder to know how many real people are using the platform.
Bier (@nikitabier) tweeted:”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.
“As part of that, we’re experimenting with displaying new information on profiles, including which country an account is based, among other details.
“Starting next week, we will surface this on a handful of profiles of X team members to get feedback.”
More from News
- How The Government Is Helping With Workers’ Mental Health
- Former PM Rishi Sunak Joins Microsoft and Anthropic
- How Zoom And Oracle Are Partnering To Help Businesses Scale Customer Engagement?
- Instagram Wants You To Share Where You Are – But Do Users Still Trust That Idea?
- Experts Share: Could Smart Glasses Really Replace Smartphones?
- What Is Open Source Malware And Why Is It So High?
- Ofcom Issues First Fine Under The Online Safety Act
- A New Report Reveals How Many People Use The Internet
How Do Bots Actually Work On X?
Bots on X are software programmes that control accounts automatically. They can tweet, retweet, like and follow people without human input. According to Clario, fewer than 5% of accounts on X are bots, but they produce as much as 29% of U.S. content.
Not all bots are harmful… In fact, many of them are harmless and can even be helpful, such as those sharing weather alerts, news updates or memes, but like everything else, tools originally designed for good can and will always be misused eventually.
The harmful bots do things like tricking users into clicking links that install spyware or steal data. Scammers often design them to look trustworthy, even pretending to be well-known brands or customer service accounts. Now that X has paid verification, it may be quite hard to tell whether an account is legit or not.
Some bots use X’s public API, which lets developers build automated tools for posting or replying to content. This has made it easy for anyone with basic knowledge (or even an online bot creation service) to start running automated accounts. Over time, these bots have become harder to detect as they learn to mimic human behaviour, tweeting at random intervals and copying natural language.
Will X’s New Feature Help Solve The Issue?
The “About this account” feature could make it easier for people to judge the authenticity of users they come across. Details like how long an account has existed or how often its name has changed could make it clearer when something looks fake.
While it won’t eliminate bots altogether, the feature could make scams easier to spot. Bots have been part of the platform since its early days, and some are still useful. But the harmful ones continue to test the platform’s security and users’ trust. Bier’s announcement could mean that X is beginning to take a more practical route in helping people tell real humans from fake accounts.
