Twitter's 'Country of Origin' Feature May Start Exposing Anonymous Accounts Over on X

5 months ago 34

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About

Twitter / X Country of Origin Feature refers to memes, discussions and discourse inspired by the rollout of a feature on X (formerly Twitter) where accounts would have their "country of origin" displayed in their bios, as determined by App Store location or IP address. Twitter confirmed the rollout of country labels for all profiles in November 2025, while also allowing users to "opt-out" of the system. In late November, memes where Twitter users accuse each other of secretly being based in developing countries began making the rounds online, with "Account based in India" becoming a notable point of mockery online, as seen in campaigns against X users like @ysmammri and @VividProwess.

Origin

On October 14th, 2022, Twitter / X head of product Nikita Bier made a post announcing a then-experimental feature that would display a user's country of origin, gathering over 11 million views and 20,000 likes in a month. He wrote, "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."

The location of an account can be accessed by clicking on a profile's "joined" date in their bio, which is now a link that leads to an information tab about the account.

Spread

Several internet users began posting fake screenshots showing that certain accounts were based in developing countries, with India being a popular location for X accounts to mock.

On November 20th, 2025, X user @BehizyTweets posted, "WTF, Elon, TURN IT OFF." alongside a screenshot showing "Account based in India" appearing on his bio.

On November 20th, X user @BehizyTweets posted, "W--, Elon, TURN IT OFF." alongside a screenshot showing "Account based in India" appearing on his bio.

Also on November 20th, X user @ayeejuju posted, "LMFAOOOO this gotta be the one good thing Elon has done to this app 💀 alongside a screenshot showing "Account based in India" appearing on X user @ysmammri's profile. The post gathered over 40,000 likes in a day.

On November 21st, X user @ZardSi wrote, "Well 🇮🇳 Well 🇮🇳 Well 🇮🇳 Well 🇮🇳 Well 🇮🇳" alongside a screenshot showing that a "Mossad" commentary account was supposedly based in India.

X user @ZardSi wrote, "Well 🇮🇳 Well 🇮🇳 Well 🇮🇳 Well 🇮🇳 Well 🇮🇳" alongside a screenshot showing that a "Mossad" commentary account was supposedly based in India.

Also on November 21st, X user @himalayan_fairy tweeted, "First victim" alongside a screenshot of the account "Indians taking Ls" supposedly being based in Bangladesh.

X user @himalayan_fairy tweeted, "First victim" alongside a screenshot of the account "Indians taking Ls" being "based" in Bangladesh.

On November 21st, Twitter / X head of product Nikita Bier tweeted, "Announce an upcoming Country-of-Origin feature / Go silent for 2 weeks / Suddenly announce that it’s launching soon / Release it on everyone’s profile--but users can only see their own country / Everyone is confused why it’s private / So they post screenshots of the feature, helping us advertise it and showing us bugs with the data before showtime / Launch the feature."