Influential ‘U.S.’ X Accounts Spread False Claims from Abroad
What happened: Influential pro-Trump X accounts that appeared to be U.S-based but actually operate from Eastern Europe, Asia, or Africa have spread 31 false claims about U.S. and global politics in the last 15 months, ranging from supposed corruption by Democrats to a phony Ukrainian assassination plot, a NewsGuard review has found.
Context: On Nov. 22, X rolled out a feature that discloses the country or region where X accounts are based. Almost immediately, news outlets found that many accounts that appeared to be based in the U.S. purporting to be run by Americans were, instead, based abroad. NewsGuard has now found that some of these masked accounts are regular spreaders of the significant false claims debunked in NewsGuard’s proprietary False Claims Fingerprint database.
- Referring to X’s new geolocation feature, the platform’s head of product, Nikita Bier, said in a statement, “This is an important first step to securing the integrity of the global town square.”
- X includes a disclaimer on some location data, stating, “This data may not be accurate. Some internet providers may use proxies automatically without action by the user.” The disclosure also states that a virtual private network, or VPN, can obfuscate the true origin of the account.
A closer look: The Daily Beast first reported that “dozens” of popular pro-MAGA accounts that self-describe as being operated from the U.S. are actually based overseas including in Nigeria, Thailand, Bangladesh, Turkey, and Eastern Europe.
Three of these apparently overseas accounts have collectively advanced 31 provably false claims related to U.S. politics from September 2024 to November 2025. Posing as “fan accounts” for Ivanka and Barron Trump, and the late Charlie Kirk, they have a cumulative 1.77 million followers.
Nigerian Ivanka Trump fans: As first identified by The Daily Beast, X page @IvankaNews_, which has an American flag in its profile name, is actually based in Nigeria, according to X. The account, which had 1 million followers, was suspended by X for violating the platform’s rules on Nov. 24, according to X.
- NewsGuard found that the account has spread 21 false claims from NewsGuard’s False Claims Fingerprints, a continuous database of false narratives that are spreading online.
- Among the false claims promoted by the account include that Democrats paid the September 2024 debate moderators $1 million to favor Kamala Harris, that a video showed biker gangs heading to Los Angeles to join law enforcement against anti-ICE protesters, and that Cracker Barrel’s CEO said, “MAGA doesn’t have to eat here.”
- NewsGuard has found that the @IvankaNews_ account also pushed pro-Kremlin false claims. For example, the page claimed that the Ukrainian government used vulnerable civilians to clear mines, that a U.S. journalist uncovered a plot by Ukraine’s Military Intelligence to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Poland, and that Zelensky embezzled $10 million in public funds allocated for producing military medals and gave soldiers cheap copies.
Eastern European Barron Trump fans: The location of the X account @BarronTNews_ is in an Eastern European country that is not part of the European Union, according to X, despite having an American flag in its profile name and posting almost exclusively about U.S. politics.
- The account, which has 584,600 followers, has spread five false claims identified in NewsGuard’s database.
- Among these is the claim that U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced that Barack Obama ordered the assassination of Donald Trump and that a video showed tanks and artillery moving into Chicago in September 2025.
Eastern European Charlie Kirk fans: The account @CharlieK_news, which presents itself as a tribute account for the late conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, states that it is based in the U.S. in its bio. It is actually based in “Eastern Europe (Non-EU),” according to X’s new location feature.
- The account, which has 188,900 followers, has advanced five claims from NewsGuard’s False Claims Fingerprints database.
- For example, the account has falsely claimed that a video showed unauthorized people rifling through an Arizona ballot drop box during the state’s local elections in November 2025 and that Attorney General Pam Bondi launched a criminal investigation into a “Clinton-Obama Foundation network.”
X’s press office did not respond to an emailed request seeking comment on the apparent foreign origins of these accounts and whether the Eastern European-based accounts violate X’s policies, which could lead them to be suspended as the Nigeria-based account was.
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Partisan X Accounts Misuse New X Feature to Advance False Claims About User Location
What happened: While X’s new location feature may offer genuine insight into the operators behind accounts, it has also prompted a wave of misuse, with partisan accounts fabricating screenshots and sharing details from phony accounts to falsely accuse others of hiding their foreign origins.
NewsGuard has so far identified 11 fabricated and misleading screenshots spreading false claims about popular accounts’ origins.
Nigerian Fuentes: One such screenshot targeted Nick Fuentes, a U.S.-based political commentator who posts right-wing, antisemitic, and anti-Israel content.
- Pro-Israel X user @EYakoby posted an image supposedly from Fuentes’ account, showing it was based in Nigeria, and stating that Fuentes is “all one massive psyop.” The post received 1 million views and 1,300 likes in two days.
Actually: The screenshot did not capture Fuentes’ real X account (@NickJFuentes), which shows he is, in fact, based in the U.S. Instead, the post showed the location information for an impostor account (@RealNickJFuente) as being based in Nigeria.
Ukrainian Starmer: Conservative U.K. X user @MartinGauci posted a screenshot purportedly showing that U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s X account is based in Ukraine. The post received 19,000 views in under a day.
Actually: The screenshot is fabricated.
- Starmer’s X account does not display any information about where the account is based, besides a self-designated United Kingdom geotag in its bio.
- X’s head of product, Nikita Bier, stated in an X post that the new feature does not reveal the location on any “gray check account” — those belonging to a government organization or official.
A tip for using this new tool: All X users can verify account origin information for themselves instead of relying on potentially fabricated or misleading screenshots.
- X’s new feature is easily accessible by going to a user’s profile, clicking on the three horizontal dots in the center of the profile, and clicking on “About this account.”
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