this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2025

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491

Many prominent MAGA personalities on X are based outside US, new tool reveals (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 4 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

18 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Users posing as rightwing Americans are operating internationally, per the platform’s transparency feature

Many of the most influential personalities in the “Make America great again” (MAGA) movement on X are based outside of the US, including Russia, Nigeria and India, a new transparency feature on the social media site has revealed.

The new tool, called “about this account,” became available on Friday to users of the Elon Musk-owned platform. It allows anyone to see where an account is located, when it joined the platform, how often its username has been changed, and how the X app was downloaded. As soon as the update was rolled out, users found numerous MAGA and rightwing influencers who presented themselves as patriotic Americans were operating from other countries.

“This is easily one of the greatest days on this platform,” wrote liberal influencer Harry Sisson. “Seeing all of these MAGA accounts get exposed as foreign actors trying to destroy the United States is a complete vindication of Democrats, like myself and many on here, who have been warning about this.”

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[–] Ooops@feddit.org 63 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Also... to add some international facts:

We have also seen such things as Slovakian right-wing politicians with apps downloaded in Russia or Irish nationalists in reality operating from the US.

So totally not surprisingly -for people with more than 2 working brain cells at least- this is not just about MAGA. This is nationalist and far-right narratives and policies being pushed by foreign actors everywhere.

[–] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip -4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (3 children)

Some of that is just the nature of living in a global society. Someone moves for work/political reasons but still cares about their previous country. And, increasingly, they are more able to criticize it because they don't (know they) have to care about getting detained at a border crossing or whatever else.

That isn't at all to say that there aren't entire economies built around misinformation and propaganda. But so much of this has been immediately tainted by xenophobia by Both Sides and so forth. Not to mention all the people who think they "gotcha"d government officials posting from israel... right after an extended trip by the trump admin to israel.

Like all things, people actually need to apply a bit of critical thought and look at how that account has been representing itself rather than just a kneejerk "You failed my purity test so you are Other and you no longer matter and maybe all you Others should stop existing"

[–] jaxxed@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The significant representation described in the article is not "some ppl who may have moved".

Yes, they focused on MAGA in the article, but it doesn't make it less significant.

[–] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 0 points 4 months ago

And that is a subset of the accounts.

Like all things, people actually need to apply a bit of critical thought and look at how that account has been representing itself rather than just a kneejerk “You failed my purity test so you are Other and you no longer matter and maybe all you Others should stop existing”

Again, the problem is all the "gotchas" from people who translate "These influencers are clearly people in a call center" with "No accounts outside of Ireland should have any say on Irish politics"

[–] Ooops@feddit.org 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Those "some" you mention are a miniscule minority.

That official US government account posting from Israel while a big political delegation is there right now? Sure.

Bigger numbers of very active MAGA influencers consistently posting from Russia or Nigeria? All those proud Irish "Celtic Warriors" posting from the US? Eastern European far-right politicians pushing Russian narratives and using Twitter through Russian apps? No, that's a very obvious pattern.

So while your first about a global society is technically correct, it is definitely not the defining portion in this. And stressing "that can happen and is totally normal" when it's an exception has the sour aftertaste of a diversion.

[–] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 1 points 4 months ago

But so much of this has been immediately tainted by xenophobia by Both Sides and so forth.

Odd, then, that the vast majority of troll pressure has been in favor of only one side.

You failed my purity test

Cliche.

so you are Other

Another cliche.

and maybe all you Others should stop existing

If it's a foreign-imperialist troll farm, yeah, it should stop existing. Continuing to operate such extensive propaganda operations is an act of war.

[–] Tehbaz@lemmy.wtf 42 points 4 months ago

The horse has long since bolted. Everyone sane knew this a long time ago, but the idiots still voted for MAGA anyway.

[–] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 25 points 4 months ago (2 children)

It's amazing how Twitter keeps managing to fuck these things up. They seem to have no concept of testing anymore.

Musk keeps trying to play propaganda minister and pushing nazi shit, but never checks things before implementing them. At times it seems like the only explanation is that he actually believes the lies about how "it's all the Democrats". Then he has to panic and run things back when that inevitably turns out to be projection and it exposes Republican bullshit and foreign interference.

[–] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Musks motto "move fast and break things".

Fuck it....test in prod.

[–] No1@aussie.zone 2 points 4 months ago

We are QA now.

And if you hear "phased rollouts", block any updates.

[–] JustAnotherPodunk@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

That's exactly what it is. He doesn't realize that he's just a tool, not the mastermind. But his ego and complete lack of self awareness won't let him see it. Same with trump. They have spent their whole lives thinking they are masters of the universe, and now that they have that control, all they do is fuck up their goals, because they aren't actually the ones calling the shots, and their goals are not why they were elevated to these positions. To steal from blazing saddles.

"What did you expect? ‘Welcome, Sonny?’ ‘Make yourself at home?’ ‘Marry my daughter?’ You’ve got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know—morons"

[–] Entropy_Pyre@lemmy.ca 21 points 4 months ago

I’m glad The Guardian made an article on this. I saw a post earlier on it but wasn’t sure if it was fake clickbait. It’s hard to tell these days so I try to find a good news group also reporting on things.

[–] Greyghoster@aussie.zone 12 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Influencers for rent or just provocateurs?

[–] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 26 points 4 months ago

Troll farms have a pretty large and lucrative business based in countries that traditionally don't do much about web-based fraud. It's the same groups that sell fake subscribers.

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 8 points 4 months ago

Both, for rent.

[–] Fedizen@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

I feel like this is imperialism coming home to roost

[–] DaMummy@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

So that eagle wasn't ever wearing a hat!?

[–] Balldowern@lemmy.zip 1 points 4 months ago

No it was wearing a Turban