this post was submitted on 25 Nov 2025
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politics

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659
MAGA trolls outed as foreigners vanish from X after brutal update (www.thedailybeast.com)
submitted 2 weeks ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world
67 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Many of the MAGA influencers outed as living in countries like Nigeria and Bangladesh have since vanished from X.

The users, who had over a million followers between them, had their country of origin exposed over the weekend as part of a new X feature that now shows where accounts were created and how their owners downloaded the social platform’s app.

Four prominent accounts unmasked by the feature—DarkMAGA, MagaScope, WilliamAlbrech, and IvankaNews_—now show as being “suspended” for violating “X rules,” though it is unclear which. X’s website says it bars users who pretend to be someone they are not—something all the accounts appear to be guilty of.

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[–] 2piradians@lemmy.world 125 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

Maybe try not being followers who allow ourselves to be influenced. I think if you had described this social media situation to average people 20 years ago most would have seen it as dystopian, evil even. But because it happened so gradually it gained acceptance.

I guess what I'm saying is we should get the hell rid of it all so eventually public opinion won't be swayed by cheap foreign labor, bots, and people who just want to burn it all down.

But we won't because too many think all this is better than the world before it existed.

/rant

[–] IcedRaktajino@startrek.website 47 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

I guess what I'm saying is we should get the hell rid of it all so eventually public opinion won't be swayed by cheap foreign labor, bots, and people who just want to burn it all down.

I've blocked so many accounts on here that are clearly not Americans just straight up trying to incite shit in US news / politics communities. I don't know what's worse: the number of upvotes those get or how transparent they are.

[–] Augustiner@lemmy.world 32 points 2 weeks ago

Always feel conflicted blocking guys like this… I wanna keep seeing them so I can downvote, but they also are just fucking annoying and toxic.

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[–] Kirp123@lemmy.world 18 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

That requires a population that is educated and can critically read and analyze media. Don't think any country in the world has that.

[–] Zachariah@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

Okay, you’ve swayed my opinion on this.

[–] atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 weeks ago

I mean… 20 years ago when we only had Xanga, MySpace, Friendster, LiveJournal, LinkedIn, and many others. Even Facebook is 21 years old now… though it didn’t become available for everyone for a couple years after that.

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[–] expatriado@lemmy.world 112 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

to later reappear with different username

[–] jdredbeard@lemmy.world 23 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

This will 100% happen

[–] expatriado@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

your 9 days old account makes me think you're probably familiar with the technique

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[–] FenderStratocaster@lemmy.world 42 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

They'll be back.

[–] AreaKode@lemmy.world 37 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

And with greater VPNs

[–] kautau@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

This mass user exodus sponsored by ExpressVPN™

[–] AreaKode@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

Well, duh. The future is full of sponsorships! The question is, which corporation do you fight for?

[–] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 10 points 2 weeks ago

Probably already are

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[–] 4am@lemmy.zip 34 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

I was wondering if this is just because of VPN use or something but nope this confirms they’re actually just hired trolls and the rubes have been manipulated this whole time. Fucking pathetic how dumb we are.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Well, lots of tankies, "centrists", and of course nearly all Republicans seem to think that concerns about Russia going back to 2016's election are a "hoax".

I don't know if they could even begin to articulate what they think that word means in the context of their claims. But they sure are butthurt about it.

[–] khepri@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago

It wasn't just based on IP from what I understand, but also what country's app store you used.

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

I could be wrong here, but unless you're actively trying to hide something pretty serious, I'd be surprised if people use a VPN and set it to a country like Nigeria or Bangladesh if you're from NA.

Maybe Canada if you're from the USA, likely other states, or maybe somewhere in the EU if you think their data protection laws will be better for you.

But Nigeria? Who fuck sets their VPN there?

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[–] fodor@lemmy.zip 7 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

The hired trolls are only one part of the problem. The other problem -- perhaps the bigger problem -- is that running scam / spam accounts is a legitimate occupation for people living in near-poverty. They need to put food on the table, and if they can do so by posting MAGA bullshit to get the advertising clicks, of course they'll keep on doing that.

This is a good example of why everyone should be working to improve the living situations of everyone else in the world, and not just in their own country. It's not like most people enjoy running scams, but if that pays the bills, fuck it, let the rich Americans sort it out.

[–] daannii@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago

There are literal companies you can hire. They also do it to cancel people or promote beliefs about people.

A good example is that Johnny Depp admitted he hired one against his ex during the public court stuff to make her look bad. Amber Heard. And it worked.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3VnNDMYzttcGgBNQB0BswtH/amber-heard-vs-the-internet-an-organised-smear-campaign

Companies, in this case, owned by Saudi

This stuff sounds like crackpot conspiracy theories. But it's real. This stuff is reality now.

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[–] Routhinator@startrek.website 22 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Musk pretends he's something he's not on Shitter all the time.

[–] crandlecan@mander.xyz 10 points 2 weeks ago

A compassionate genius?

[–] Bubbaonthebeach@lemmy.ca 21 points 2 weeks ago

They are probably already back with new names. Or the rest of their names.

[–] taiyang@lemmy.world 20 points 2 weeks ago

I wonder. People saying it isn't VPNs aren't necessarily wrong but I do want to say it's likely they are using bot networks to mass create accounts and those might use IP rotation. Those IPs can come from any fucking place. I've only seen it from scraping operations, but I bet it's necessary when mass operating bullshit accounts.

US proxies exist, but they're more expensive and wouldn't make as much sense for mass creating if your goal is just to avoid getting blocked.

[–] TomMasz@lemmy.world 20 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

I'm not sure I can believe that Elon thought this wouldn't have a downside. He had to know so many right-wing chud accounts weren't US based.

[–] Olgratin_Magmatoe@slrpnk.net 20 points 2 weeks ago

Idk he has kinda proven himself to be an incompetent nazi on many different occasions

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[–] demizerone@lemmy.world 17 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

Twitter should be nationalized in the public interest and made the online public square like the national mall. Fully transparent and accountable.

[–] blubfisch@discuss.tchncs.de 22 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Sounds cool, until the fascists take over the government...

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 12 points 2 weeks ago

As opposed to the non fascists in corporations?

[–] aeternum@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 2 weeks ago

they already have

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago

To hear fElon tell it, that's what he thought Twitter was before, and what he aimed for Xitter to uphold...

LOL. Sorry, hard to type that w/o laughing.

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[–] billwashere@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago

Did these X admins not realize the fallout or was there some other intended purpose?

I can smell the outrage from here.

[–] crandlecan@mander.xyz 10 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

So... I can't use an alias on Shitter?

[–] thermal_shock@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

Needs to be Shitter, LLC based in USSR.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago

I wonder if this will actually affect some upcoming election outcomes.

And now I think every other major commercial platform in use in the United States should do the same...

[–] Formfiller@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

If all else fails maybe he could try not being a morally bankrupt pos and get some therapy to get people to like him. in all honesty he’s irredeemable and needs to go to prison though

[–] someguy3@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

I heard it was because they used VPNs! (/s if needed)

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Why don't they just use vpns?

[–] Spur4383@lemmy.world 17 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

That’s an extra cost, until the oopsiedaisy of revealing their location the cost was superfluous. The new accounts will use them.

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[–] expatriado@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago

may be survivorship bias, the ones that didn't use it got caught

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