Social media platform X, formerly Twitter, launched a new feature this week that fights disinformation by revealing the true locations of user accounts. Even though China’s Great Firewall restricts access to X on ordinary Chinese networks, many X users appear to be doing just that — accessing X on a local network, without the help of a virtual private network, or VPN. These are likely state actors masquerading as authentic accounts.
The new “About This Account” section in every user’s profile details the location where the account was made (for example, “connected via the United Kingdom app store”) and the “current” location of the account based on aggregated IP addresses. If a user connects to X through Japanese networks (i.e., with a Japanese IP address), then X will say the account is “based in” Japan. Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, said that after an initial hiccup, the location feature is now nearly “99.99% accurate.” But he also said location data will be updated on a “delayed and randomized schedule to preserve privacy.”
The typical Chinese X user accesses their account with a VPN because X is blocked by the Great Firewall, China’s primary mechanism for restricting unfettered access to the global internet. VPNs reroute your internet traffic through a server in a different location, making it appear like your device is connected to the internet from there. Over 30% of internet users in China regularly use VPNs. In terms of how this shows up in the “About This Account Section,” we can expect Chinese VPN users to have “connected via” a Chinese app store, but to be “based in” whatever foreign location their VPN’s exit server is using.
Take Taiwanese Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) notoriously disgusting comment section, for example. The dozens of sexist, degrading and critical comments left under Hsiao’s recent posts are mostly written in simplified Chinese, from accounts that were “connected via” a Chinese app store but “based in” places across the world where X is accessible like Taiwan or Hong Kong. These Chinese X users are likely connecting to the platform using a VPN. One X user who comments on Hsiao’s posts even wrote in their bio that they are “Proudly in China, on X via VPN.” According to X, they are “based in” Taiwan.
It’s no surprise that many Chinese netizens use a VPN to post on X, and Chinese “cyber-nationalism” on American social media platforms is well-documented. A more interesting discovery from X’s new location data is that some accounts that were created in China, or “connected via” a Chinese app store, appear to be accessing X via local Chinese networks, with Chinese IP addresses. X says these accounts are “based in” China. Since connection via an ordinary Chinese network, one that would lead X to track the IP address to China, shouldn’t be possible due to the Great Firewall, an account that appears to be “based in” China might be bypassing the firewall without a VPN. Two reports this week, one from The Epoch Times, a newspaper associated with the religious movement Falun Gong, and another from the organization Human Rights in China, try to answer this question.
The Epoch Times and Human Rights in China concluded that X users who appear to be based in China are accessing their accounts without a VPN, which means that these users are likely state-linked actors. Hsieh Pei-Shiue (謝沛學), a research fellow at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research in Taiwan, told The Epoch Times that “only a small number of government-authorized entities or personnel are able to directly access foreign social media platforms without a VPN” in China.
“Many personal accounts that promoted Chinese culture and defended official positions, or those claiming to be ‘overseas Chinese,’ were found to have their real IPs located within China. At the same time, a batch of accounts claiming to be ‘Uyghur people,’ which mainly post pro-China or external propaganda content, also showed IP addresses located within China,” Human Rights in China wrote.
A website called basedinChina.com has aggregated thousands of such accounts. Each of the 50 or so X accounts related to “Xinjiang” in its database are listed as “based in” China. These accounts profess to share the real Xinjiang, including its beautiful scenery, food and culture. Some write in English, others in Chinese. “This is Xinjiang, a land full of vitality and dynamism. Follow me to learn about the real Xinjiang,” one user’s bio reads.
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