X — the platform still known to many as Twitter — has rolled out a new transparency feature called “About This Account,” and it has immediately triggered one of the biggest conversations the platform has seen in months. The update quietly went live, but within hours, it had taken over timelines across the world, including Zimbabwe’s, as users rushed to inspect what the platform had started revealing.

The feature works in a simple but disruptive way. When a user taps on the “Joined” date on any profile, X now displays behind-the-scenes information that was previously hidden. This includes the account’s creation date, username history, the country where the app was originally downloaded, and most significantly, the region or country where the account is currently based. Unlike the optional location field users could manually edit in the past, this new location tag is generated by X using signals from device metadata, IP ranges, app usage, and other internal indicators.

According to X’s product team, the goal is to give users more context about the accounts they interact with, especially in a digital environment increasingly affected by impersonation, bots, and anonymous narratives. In theory, knowing where an account is operating from should help build trust and give readers a clearer understanding of the voices shaping conversations online.

But once the feature went live, reality unfolded very differently.

Zimbabwean users immediately began checking profiles they had followed for years — accounts that tweeted about kombis, local shop prices, neighbourhood incidents, weather updates, and everyday life. To many people’s shock, profiles that appeared unmistakably local were suddenly showing as based in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, the United States, Dubai, and other far-off locations. The revelation struck a nerve, not because users were caught lying, but because the feature disrupted long-held assumptions about who was part of Zimbabwe’s digital community.

For many diaspora Zimbabweans, the platform has always served as a link to home. They follow local news closely, speak the slang, understand the jokes, and comment passionately about developments back home. Their posts fit seamlessly into the daily Zimbabwean conversation — and for most, it never mattered that they were tweeting from abroad. But with X now openly displaying their current region, that privacy disappeared overnight.

The result was instant and emotional. Some users quietly locked their accounts. Others took a break from tweeting, suddenly self-conscious about how their followers might now interpret their posts. A few deleted old tweets they felt might now be judged differently. And for those who always assumed they were interacting with local voices, the sudden location disclosures felt like an unexpected border check at the top of every profile.

The uproar highlights a deeper truth about digital identity: online communities naturally build mental images of the people they interact with, based solely on what they say. When someone comments daily about life in Zimbabwe, users instinctively imagine them physically present within the country. X’s new feature dismantles those assumptions in seconds.

The update has also raised concerns around privacy and security. Not all users are comfortable with their location — even a broad regional one — being displayed without explicit consent. Some have pointed out that the feature may expose people in sensitive circumstances or in countries where political expression carries risk. While X has indicated that broader user controls may be introduced in the future, many users currently cannot adjust or hide their displayed region.

What is clear is that this seemingly small update has transformed how people view digital authenticity. By simply revealing where an account is based, X has exposed just how intertwined, global and diverse everyday online conversations have become. And as users continue to adjust to this new layer of transparency, the debate around privacy, identity and trust on social platforms is only beginning.