X Marks the Spot: Numerous X Accounts Claiming to Be in Gaza Unmasked as Being Located Elsewhere

The internet is brimful with millions of posts at X (formerly Twitter), but until the other day, those posting could claim to be where they were not. This was especially common among those posting anti-Israel and antisemitic messages, many of whom pretended to be reporting their eyewitness accounts of IDF atrocities from Gaza, when they were thousands of miles away. Now Elon Musk has added a new feature to X, that correctly identifies the place where the poster is located. More on this blow for truth can be found here: “X location feature reveals origin of anti-Israel, antisemitic, and Gaza scam accounts,” by Michael Starr and Mathilda Heller, Jerusalem Post, November 23, 2025:

A new X/Twitter feature revealing the application store country registry and location of social media accounts has raised concern about foreign influence and the authenticity of users engaged in polarized online debates, including the Arab Israeli conflict and antisemitism.

X’s head of product, Nikita Bier, announced that this is part of a drive to “secure the integrity” of the site and allow users to verify the authenticity of the content they see there.

Since the rollout, X users have uncovered scores of accounts with a mismatch between claimed identity and actual location. A myriad of high-following, anti-Israel, nameless accounts have now been revealed to be based in Turkey or Pakistan.

The location feature has already seen complaints about inaccuracy, but allegations about misleading operating locations for popular accounts have seen either them close shop or provide explanations to defend their legitimacy.

Since the purchase of the giant social media platform by entrepreneur Elon Musk in 2022, X has been branded as a digital town square that allowed for the replacement of legacy media with citizen journalism.

Yet, on Saturday, the implementation of the location feature highlighted the questionable origins of anonymous news accounts that have gained popularity in disseminating anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian, and pro-Iranian axis content. With names suggesting truthful knowledge forbidden by mainstream media, such accounts have flourished on a platform that allows for monetization of posts.

One such account, Silenced Sirs, claims to amplify “Lebanese voices” and sports a Lebanese flag in its biography, but it appeared to have connected to X through the US app store and may be based in the Congo. X notifications warned that this account, as with others, might not have an accurate date due to recent travel or temporary location. Another account, Censored Voice, may have originated in South Asia and has had 24 username changes since it was created last August.

Some accounts, such as Suppressed News, have argued that they never pretended to be American and indicated that they were from the Middle East, but critics noted the account’s US-centric posts and dictates about the nature of the “America first” movement.

“Do I need to be from America to be Anti-Israel?” responded Suppressed News, whose account may be from North Africa. “Yes, I’m part of the people who suffer because of foreign nations and because of Zionists.”…

These posts at X, promising to be “authentic eyewitness accounts” from Gaza, or about “life in the occupied West Bank,” are in fact typed out by the tense fingers of anti-Israel propagandists thousands of miles away, in Pakistan, Turkey, or Bangladesh.

A popular Palestinian journalist – Mohammad Smiry – who has nearly 1 million followers and claims to be in Gaza tweeting about ‘life under occupation’ is geolocated to Indonesia. Simry challenged X’s location designation, claiming that “Twitter is showing wrong locations for Palestinians, my account showed Indonesia because my brother is there and has access to my account.”

Mohammad Smiry tries to convince those who are suddenly suspicious that it not he, but his brother, who is in Indonesia. But Mohammad Smiry signed the post in question. He claimed to be reporting from the West Bank on “life under occupation.” Still, he figures, he might as well lie; many people will want to believe him.

News accounts were not the only ones brought into question by the new feature. Many of the accounts of private individuals claiming to be living through the ‘genocide’ in Gaza are not in fact located Gaza, or Palestine. Ameer in Gaza @abu-hafed1 posts about starving in Gaza and asks for donations, but is geolocated to the UK. A well-known account – Mahmoud in Gaza – is in the Netherlands. An account supposedly belonging to Dima Alghrbawi has raised $34,000 through a GoFundMe fundraiser, and while the person may be authentic, it is brought into suspicion by X indications that the account was made and based in Nigeria….

Ah, those Nigerian scammers, who have acquired quite a reputation for all manner of scams (ask the Americans who sent their life savings to a “Nigerian prince” who promised to pay them back tenfold, just as soon as his inheritance came through). The one running this scam claimed to be one “Dima Alghrbawi,” reporting from Gaza, and sympathizers of those poor Gazans have so far sent $34,000 to a GoFundMe fundraiser, but now those contributions are likely to stop, because now on X, “Dima” has been geolocated in Nigeria.

The new X feature has also revealed multiple individual Iranian citizen accounts to be somehow connected to the Islamic Republic regime. This is because access to X is illegal in Iran and has been blocked since 2009. While many Iranians use VPNs to circumvent the ban, this would be flagged under the new feature. For those users who are located in Iran and have logged in through an Iranian app, it indicates the regime approves of them. These posts are by pro-regime Iranians, pretending to be independent voices from outside the country.That masquerade can no longer succeed; X now provides their location inside Iran.

This is in contrast to some influential anti–Islamic Republic [and sometimes pro-Israel] accounts working to restore Iran’s monarchy, which have been revealed to be based inside Iran, using VPNs to hide their IP addresses due to fear. For example, users such as Adam Hesabi, thetwelth_Imam, and YaarGhadimi are listed in foreign countries but have connected through the Iran Android App. Those using a VPN have an exclamation mark next to their location….

Some of the anti-Islamic Republic accounts at X are in fact posted from inside Iran, but the posters, fearful of the regime that would of course execute them if discovered, give their locations as foreign countries far from Iran. They use VPNs to hide their IP addresses. So far they have remained untraceable.

Because of Elon Musk’s new feature at X, posters located in Pakistan or Algeria or Saudi Arabia can no longer continue to pretend they are all in Gaza, reporting on the “genocide.” Nor can others pretend that they are “Americans” complaining about what “the Zionists” are doing to their country. Those fake Gazan accounts are now exposed as located a thousand miles from the Strip. Those fake American accounts, too, are now shown to be coming from a dozen countries in Dar al-Islam, from posters determined to break the strong bonds between Israel and America. They have had the curtain pulled back. That is progress. Thank you, Elon Musk.