X, Elon Musk’s microblogging platform, is rolling out a new transparency overlay on user profiles to add clarity and help users spot suspicious accounts. The feature will reveal additional information such as account creation dates, username changes, and location data. These details are meant to give people more confidence in assessing whether an account is real or fake.
Initially, the feature will be tested internally on employee accounts as part of a sandbox environment. Once refined, it will be extended to the broader user base.
According to Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, the design is to show when an account was created, “how many times (and when) the user changed their handle or display name,” and the region associated with the account. There will also be signals about account behavior, such as the devices used or changes in settings, to provide more context.
Users will have the option to hide some or all of these details. But the choice to opt out might itself become visible as a transparency signal on their profile. Given privacy and safety concerns, especially in regions where exposing personal data can be risky, X may default to showing broader regions (rather than precise locations), or suppress location details entirely in certain jurisdictions.
This step comes amid increasing challenges with impersonation, misinformation, and AI-driven accounts that mimic real humans. To date, X has removed roughly 1.7 million bot accounts engaged in reply-spam, signaling ongoing efforts to clean up the platform.
