As AI makes it easier to create bots that act more human than ever, Elon Musk’s X is rolling out a new feature designed to make the platform feel a little more trustworthy.
According to X’s head of product Nikita Bier, the company will soon begin experimenting with showing more information directly on user profiles, including when the account was created, its location, how many times it’s changed usernames, and how it’s using X’s services.
The goal? To help people quickly understand who they’re talking to online, and whether that account is real or potentially a bot.
For example, if someone claims to be in New York but their account shows activity from overseas, that’s a red flag. Or if a profile has gone through multiple name changes in a short time, that might hint at manipulation or misinformation.
Bier says X will first test the feature on employee profiles next week before rolling it out more broadly. Users will reportedly be able to opt out, though profiles that do so may have that choice visibly highlighted, an interesting twist on transparency.
He also acknowledged privacy concerns, noting that in regions where speech can have consequences, X might show only a country instead of a specific location. If this sounds familiar, it’s because Instagram already offers something similar. Under “About This Profile,” users can see how long an account has existed, where it’s based, and how often the username has changed, a feature Instagram head Adam Mosseri recently said could expand further.
For X, this transparency push follows a recent purge of 1.7 million reply-spam bots, a sign the platform is trying to rebuild trust after years of criticism around fake accounts and misinformation. Whether it works remains to be seen, but one thing’s clear: As bots get smarter, social networks will need to get more honest.