Live data from Hacker News

X.com is gonna snitch you out to the public if you use a VPN

vice.com

31–40 of 85 posts

Re: X.com is gonna snitch you out to the public if you use a VPN

#31

This is a good thing. Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Trolls https://www.thedailybeast.com/top-maga-influencers-accidenta... ”Dozens of major accounts masquerading as “America First” or “MAGA” proponents have been identified as originating in places such as Russia, India, and Nigeria. In one example, the account MAGANationX—with nearly 400,000 followers and a bio reading “Patriot Voice for We Th…

We've known this is a thing for quite some while. The Russians have been running a bunch of these propaganda accounts at least as far back as the 2016 election (see the Mueller report).

[deleted]

Re: X.com is gonna snitch you out to the public if you use a VPN

#32

"“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,” posted Nikita Bier, Head of Product at X, back on October 14, 2025." That feature of showing where an account was created was on for a bit and then turned off... it highlights that many accounts implying they are in the USA are actually not and probably not who…

> That feature of showing where an account was created was on for a bit and then turned off... it highlights that many accounts implying they are in the USA are actually not and probably not who they claim to be.

I recall that Twitter had a serious account takeover problem which reached the point that eve high profile accounts were hijacked.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Twitter_account_hijacking

Of course owners of dead accounts don't complain.

The way Elon Musk's Twitter decided to render blue checkmarks useless leads me to believe this is by design.

Re: X.com is gonna snitch you out to the public if you use a VPN

#33

This is a good thing. Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Trolls https://www.thedailybeast.com/top-maga-influencers-accidenta... ”Dozens of major accounts masquerading as “America First” or “MAGA” proponents have been identified as originating in places such as Russia, India, and Nigeria. In one example, the account MAGANationX—with nearly 400,000 followers and a bio reading “Patriot Voice for We Th…

I would say that privacy conscious people simply gave up on contributing and commenting. Non privacy conscious are those who are public figures anyway like politicians or journalists. Trolls turned more sophisticated and vicious as they are compensated and oftentimes threatened to do so.

Re: X.com is gonna snitch you out to the public if you use a VPN

#34

This is a good thing. Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Trolls https://www.thedailybeast.com/top-maga-influencers-accidenta... ”Dozens of major accounts masquerading as “America First” or “MAGA” proponents have been identified as originating in places such as Russia, India, and Nigeria. In one example, the account MAGANationX—with nearly 400,000 followers and a bio reading “Patriot Voice for We Th…

Companies requiring that you use potentially poor privacy and security protocols isn't a good thing. Using a VPN doesn't make one a bot or a spammer.

[deleted]

Re: X.com is gonna snitch you out to the public if you use a VPN

#35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

actually incredibly bullish for america. everybody wants to be american. nobody with agency is rooting for anything other than the US. seriously, if youre not topblasting the S&P, i dont know what to tell you. theres like the entire 2nd and 3rd world combined waiting for their paycheque to come in every month so they can spend it on the US. by 2100, we are gonna have a graveyard of langauges that nobody speaks anymor…

You think foreign interference in your politics means everyone wants to be American? That's a very, very optimistic view of what's going on.

[flagged]

Re: X.com is gonna snitch you out to the public if you use a VPN

#36

This is a good thing. Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Trolls https://www.thedailybeast.com/top-maga-influencers-accidenta... ”Dozens of major accounts masquerading as “America First” or “MAGA” proponents have been identified as originating in places such as Russia, India, and Nigeria. In one example, the account MAGANationX—with nearly 400,000 followers and a bio reading “Patriot Voice for We Th…

We've known this is a thing for quite some while. The Russians have been running a bunch of these propaganda accounts at least as far back as the 2016 election (see the Mueller report).

Russia doesn't control X moderation policies or algorithms. These accounts have gained the purchase they have because Silicon Valley and Elon Musk specifically now see it as advantageous to sow racial animus and division, and to scapegoat migrants for domestic problems which are in fact caused by elite looting. This is being done to strengthen the status quo regime, not undermine it.

Re: X.com is gonna snitch you out to the public if you use a VPN

#37
post #7

I don't like the idea of linking VPN usage with something shady or illegal. Privacy is a human right, and knowing that I'm using a VPN or not doesn't change how "authentic" or truthful the post is.

Whatever right to privacy that may exist goes out the window when you’re posting on the World Wide Web.

Re: X.com is gonna snitch you out to the public if you use a VPN

#38

This is a good thing. Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Trolls https://www.thedailybeast.com/top-maga-influencers-accidenta... ”Dozens of major accounts masquerading as “America First” or “MAGA” proponents have been identified as originating in places such as Russia, India, and Nigeria. In one example, the account MAGANationX—with nearly 400,000 followers and a bio reading “Patriot Voice for We Th…

I agree it is a good thing. These so-called "America First" and "MEGA" accounts have been driving a wedge within the conservative party for a while. Many speculated that these were largely foreign accounts, but it was hard to prove, until now. Many of the racist "conservative" voices are being shown to be from Iran or other countries.

During the 2016 election, it was big in the news that a whole ring of fake-news social media accounts and news websites was run out of North Macedonia.[0] And not out of nefarious meddling in American internal affairs, but because the men involved knew American culture well enough to know that riling up readers in a wealthy but politically polarized country could bring in profit. How fast that story was forgotten.

[0]https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ps-political-science...

Re: X.com is gonna snitch you out to the public if you use a VPN

#39

This is a good thing. Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Trolls https://www.thedailybeast.com/top-maga-influencers-accidenta... ”Dozens of major accounts masquerading as “America First” or “MAGA” proponents have been identified as originating in places such as Russia, India, and Nigeria. In one example, the account MAGANationX—with nearly 400,000 followers and a bio reading “Patriot Voice for We Th…

We've known this is a thing for quite some while. The Russians have been running a bunch of these propaganda accounts at least as far back as the 2016 election (see the Mueller report).

This is different. There are not ideological in nature, they're looking for that revenue share that can change the life of someone living in a low-cost country.

Being pro-MAGA just happens to be the only thing that works really well (aside from gimmick accounts that repost from subreddits). If Elon suddenly made a 180 into being anti-MAGA and tweaked the algorithm to reflect that, these "bots" would switch their message as well.

Re: X.com is gonna snitch you out to the public if you use a VPN

#40
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've known this is a thing for quite some while. The Russians have been running a bunch of these propaganda accounts at least as far back as the 2016 election (see the Mueller report).

Russia doesn't control X moderation policies or algorithms. These accounts have gained the purchase they have because Silicon Valley and Elon Musk specifically now see it as advantageous to sow racial animus and division, and to scapegoat migrants for domestic problems which are in fact caused by elite looting. This is being done to strengthen the status quo regime, not undermine it.

I just pointed to evidence this was happening several years before Elon had anything to do with Twitter takeover, all the way back when Obama was still in office.
Post reply on HN