Top MAGA influencers accidentally unmasked as foreign actors (www.thedailybeast.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

49 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Elon Musk’s social media site X has rolled out a new feature in an effort to increase transparency—and unwittingly revealed that many of the site’s top MAGA influencers are actually foreign actors.

The new “About This Account” feature, which became available to X users on Friday, allows others to see where an account is based, when they joined the platform, how often they have changed their username, and how they downloaded the X app.

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 The People”—is actually based in Eastern Europe.

top 49 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] xxce2AAb@feddit.dk 17 points 2 weeks ago

I don't think this is much of a surprise to anyone. What's more interesting to me is that X/Twitter just proved they had the information to know this was going on all along and consequently must have chosen not to intervene. That should raise serious questions of the legal variety.

[-] some_designer_dude@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

Maybe if we weren’t living in post-law America…

[-] xxce2AAb@feddit.dk 1 points 2 weeks ago

Well, fortunately I'm not, but I get what you're saying.

[-] mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 2 weeks ago

This is actually exactly why Musk did it. It’s not a good faith attempt at transparency… It’s straight up “cover your ass” liability shifting. X has been accused of unfettered propaganda in recent election cycles, and this is just an attempt to go “hey, it’s the user’s fault if they fall for the propaganda. All of the info was there for them to find.”

[-] Lag@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

Or Musk wants something and he's threatening the orange.

[-] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 weeks ago

Maybe if we didn’t live in a literal tinpot dictatorship.

[-] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

Not to anyone who’s been paying attention. I just met another tankie who professes to have no idea about it so the more common knowledge the better.

[-] jimmy90@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

this might be surprising to the privacy paranoids that don't want verified and validated online accounts so that authentic online interactions can sweep away the russian bots

[-] PissingIntoTheWind@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

People should just burn down Twitters data centers and offices. Like South Park showed us.

[-] 0_o7@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 2 weeks ago

Just like the one time reddit released its statistics and the top location was from a US army base.

https://web.archive.org/web/20160406094911/http://www.redditblog.com/2013/05/get-ready-for-global-reddit-meetup-day.html

That was in 2013. Reddit stopped publishing these stats after this. Imagine how large the astroturfing is now.

Yakistanis who think it’s everyone against them is fucking poetic.

Have some of your own medicine, why don't you?

[-] ZeroGravitas@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 2 weeks ago

"Accidentally" my foot, the one with bells on it. The engineers knew.

Whether Elon knew and green-lit it, or even ordered the move as payback for his unceremonious departure from DOGE is anyone's guess. But I stand by what I said earlier, this was intentional - and more power to whoever pushed it to production.

[-] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago

I like how the DHS account was from Israel.

[-] peopleproblems@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago

Hey, would you look at that.

The FBI's first and foremost job is national security interests, particularly on identifing foreign actors in the state. The feds got played lmfao

[-] LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

Lmao nah. Feds are in on it

[-] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 weeks ago

"FBI Agent"

Looks inside the badge

Its just FSB lmao

[-] Kirp123@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

Kash Patel's FBI? A drunk raccoon could outplay them.

[-] Formfiller@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Billionaires are all criminals. Prison

[-] D_C@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 weeks ago

I agree, except that you spelt guillotine incorrectly...

[-] kandoh@reddthat.com 7 points 2 weeks ago

The world's richest man is paying people in developing countries to stoke racism and division in the US is a factual statement

[-] Greddan@feddit.org 6 points 2 weeks ago

Didn't this also reveal that the Department of Homeland Security twitter account is ran from Israel?

[-] thanksforallthefish@literature.cafe 8 points 2 weeks ago

Nah that one was a fake. Funny though

[-] ordnance_qf_17_pounder@reddthat.com 1 points 2 weeks ago

It's not far off being true though lmao

[-] thanksforallthefish@literature.cafe 1 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah. Definitely a core truth in it

[-] DaMummy@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

https://ibbit.at/post/115286

[-] vegeta@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

Pika pika

[-] Ulvain@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 weeks ago

You sound surprised

[-] AugustWest@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

Shocked, even.

[-] drzoidberg@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

⡏⠉⠛⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⣿ ⣿⠀⠀⠀⠈⠛⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠿⠛⠉⠁⠀⣿ ⣿⣧⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠙⠿⠿⠿⠻⠿⠿⠟⠿⠛⠉⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣸⣿ ⣿⣿⣷⣄⠀⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣴⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⠏⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠠⣴⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⡟⠀⠀⢰⣹⡆⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣭⣷⠀⠀⠀⠸⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⠃⠀⠀⠈⠉⠀⠀⠤⠄⠀⠀⠀⠉⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⢿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⢾⣿⣷⠀⠀⠀⠀⡠⠤⢄⠀⠀⠀⠠⣿⣿⣷⠀⢸⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⡀⠉⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢄⠀⢀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠉⠁⠀⠀⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣧⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢹⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⠃⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢸⣿⣿

[-] _stranger_@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

This is what it looks like on my client, and I felt the world needed to see what Absolutely Blasted Pikachu looks like

[-] watson387@sopuli.xyz 2 points 2 weeks ago

[-] lemmydividebyzero@reddthat.com 1 points 2 weeks ago

That Pikachu hurt itself in confusion.

[-] III@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

Quick, now do Truth Social

[-] Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

The majority are fucking Putin bots or from Xi's 50 Cent Army. Leon Hitler can F-himself too.

[-] TomArrr@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

Wasn’t one of his biggest complaints when he bought Twitter was the number of bot accounts? That went well. And I'm assuming most pay $5 month, so he's making bank from them.

[-] shittydwarf@piefed.social 3 points 2 weeks ago

Wait till you find out who's paying them

[-] Rhaedas@fedia.io 2 points 2 weeks ago

Welcome to the internet? Anonymity allows anyone to pretend to be anything, so they are more the carrier of a message than some authenticity based on a name. And where there is a market for a message, people will consume without regard for who said it, or even often without validating the message itself. Caveat emptor baby.

[-] Inucune@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

Maga people are reverting back to 'I don't like/want to talk about politics."

Nature is ~~healing~~ stagnating again.

[-] Treczoks@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

No surprise here. A good part of them are probably Russian, anyway.

[-] acme401@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

How the fuck does Musk have security clearance is fucking beyond me

[-] Ordinary_Person@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 weeks ago

So just confirming what we already knew since this kind of bullshit has been exposed several times already.

[-] Treczoks@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

Everybody knows the power behind this is Russia. But nobody mentions it?

[-] fne8w2ah@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

That's the law of unintended consequences, muskyboy.

[-] OddMinus1@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 weeks ago

I will admit that I lack knowledge in this area. "Political influencer" is a foreign concept for me. What I'm wondering is how this matters. I'm not a US citizen, but given enough followers, I could easily have been an anti GOP influencer. I would put my word out against the right wing because I don't want their political movement to spread.

What am I missing here?

[-] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago

The issue is that our dictatorship is EXTREMELY unpopular, but they use lies like this to pretend that they are actually loved and you shouldn’t believe your own eyes and ears.

[-] Regrettable_incident@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

You don't have hundreds of thousands of followers and you aren't pretending to be American.

[-] OddMinus1@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 weeks ago

I get that it's bad that people with a large follower base are claiming to be something that they are not, but does that call for legal action? Or does it break with terms of service of xitter or whatever social media they are using? Are influencers legally held to a higher standard due to their line of work? (These are honest questions, not just rhetotical. I honestly don't know.)

Or is the main point that xitter had the information that they were lying, but didn't put their knowledge to action?

[-] EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 2 weeks ago

It's kind of a mix of things. "Political influencer" is just a new way of saying "propagandist." Especially when it comes to the MAGA movement and fascist extremism rising all across the globe. These are the new KGB initiatives to destabilize Putin's enemies across the globe (and all kinds of similar intelligence agencies, the US does the same thing I'm sure). It's the "outside influence" that Twitter and Facebook were accused of during the last two election cycles in the US, which could have major consequences for Musk and Twitter, and this looks like Twitter trying to get off the hook for that by saying "we gave them the info they needed, we're not at fault for them making the choice to be stupid and believe lies."

But the big thing is that it might shake the faith of the cult when they have to start justifying why they've been listening to the exact kinds of people they hate.

[-] mrmanager@lemmy.today 0 points 2 weeks ago

Now do the origin of bot accounts pushing topics to the top here on Lemmy.

[-] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I don't think many of them pretend to be American pushing America First. I think you'd find that most of them would call themselves globalists in fact.

That said, I always find it funny that Lemmings are shocked to realize the Marxist-Leninists are often from Russia and have Russian or Chinese viewpoints.

this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2025

83 points (100.0% liked)

politics

26676 readers

840 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

• Register To Vote

• Citizenship Resource Center

• Congressional Awards Program

• Federal Government Agencies

• Library of Congress Legislative Resources

• The White House

• U.S. House of Representatives

• U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

• News