- X could soon show if you’re using a VPN
- A warning may be displayed that your location “may not be accurate”
- This comes as X seeks to fight troll accounts.
Social media platform X could soon show if you are using a VPN.
Head of Product Mikita Bier announced plans to display more information about users “including the country the account is located in” in a bid to combat troll accounts.
For VPN users, this could mean that your profile will display a warning to other users that the country or region displayed “may not be accurate.”
The move has drawn criticism from both privacy advocates and companies.
What VPN users need to know
According to a preview of how the feature will affect VPN users,
However, this does not mean that X users will be prevented from using a virtual private network (VPN) or similar tools while on the platform.
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Needless to say, the announcement has been met with outrage among privacy sectors.
Commenting on the tweet, NetBlocks Research Director Isik Mater wrote: “Great, so the next step is to expose activists and journalists to their governments. People use VPNs to stay safe in repressive environments, not to hide for fun. These guys don’t have any knowledge about privacy or basic security.”
Proton, which is the provider behind one of the best and most popular free VPNs on the market, is still cautious about sounding the alarm, at least for now.
“There has been a lot of speculation about how this will actually be implemented and we don’t have a definitive picture yet,” said the Proton VPN general manager. David Peterson told TechRadar.
Peterson notes that it appears that users’ locations may be derived from their app store region rather than their physical location or current IP address, which is the factor spoofed by a VPN. However, even this scenario is not without risks.
“If a system relies on app store region as an indicator of jurisdiction, users could end up subject to incorrect rules or be excluded from age-restricted content even when they comply,” Peterson said.
So is this the end of private browsing on X? Ultimately, it will all depend on how the social media platform intends to implement the new feature.
TechRadar reached out to X for more information but did not receive a response at the time of publication.
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