For years, platforms like X, previously known as Twitter, have been fertile ground for foreign influence operations aiming to disrupt American politics. While much of the attention has been directed at Russian troll farms, recent developments suggest a much broader and geographically diverse issue. The introduction of X’s “About This Account” feature has lifted the veil, revealing the vast expanse of foreign trolling activities.

As soon as the feature was launched, users discovered that numerous inflammatory accounts, purporting to discuss U.S. political matters, were actually operating from beyond American borders. Notably, accounts with patriotic names such as “ULTRAMAGA🇺🇸TRUMP🇺🇸2028” were found to be managed from Nigeria. A verified profile pretending to be border czar Tom Homan was traced back to Eastern Europe, while “America_First0” surprisingly originated from Bangladesh. Furthermore, a supposed network of “Trump-supporting independent women” claiming American roots actually had its origins in Thailand.

In no time, threads began to appear, compiling these so-called pro-MAGA trolls falsely presenting themselves as American, though they were orchestrated by foreign entities. While right-wing figures were swift to point out that many left-leaning profiles were also not what they seemed, the platform became inundated with users exposing the sheer number of fake and troll accounts designed to incite political tension.

Following the launch of this revealing feature, X decided to retract the information displaying where accounts were created and added disclaimers regarding the accuracy of account location data. They cited factors such as travel, VPNs, and proxies as potential causes for discrepancies. While this may be true for some accounts, it is highly unlikely to apply to the majority of those being scrutinized.

Many of these troll accounts could be state-sponsored campaigns with countries like Russia and China having strategic interests in destabilizing American politics. However, it is also plausible that financial incentives drive many of these activities. While the earnings available through X’s monetization features might seem modest in Western economies, they can represent significant income in developing countries.