About

Twitter / X Country of Origin Feature, also known as Account Based In X, refers to memes, reactions, and discourse inspired by a feature introduced on X (formerly Twitter) that displays a user's country of origin via an "About This Account" tab in their bio. X head of product Nikita Bier tested the rollout of the feature, temporarily disabling and reinstalling the ability to view an X user's country or region, in late November 2025. The feature was originally only visible to users themselves, who were given the chance to toggle their location based on either country or region.

Some accounts were also exempt from the feature, including grey check government accounts like @DHSgov, the official Department of Homeland Security X account. News about certain accounts being exempt from the rollout came after the "Account based in" feature was temporarily paused, and after X users accused te @DHSgov account of being "based in" Israel.

The news led to a flurry of posts where X users "exposed" each other's countries of origin, with some internet users noting what they allege is an overwhelming amount of conservative-leaning X accounts that target U.S. audiences that were actually based in developing countries like India", Bangladesh, and Nigeria. Accounts that were singled out in the online discourse surrounding this rollout include @ysmammri, an X account that was accused of being an Indian man who was catfishing as a Black woman from the U.K. who posted lifestyle content.

Origin

On October 14th, 2022, Twitter / X^[1] head of product Nikita Bier made a post announcing a then-experimental feature that would display a user's country of origin, gathering over 11 million views and 20,000 likes in a month.

He wrote, "When you read content on X, you should be able to verify its authenticity. This is critical to getting a pulse on important issues happening in the world. As part of that, we're experimenting with displaying new information on profiles, including which country an account is based, among other details."

The location of an account can be accessed by clicking on a profile's "joined" date in their bio, which, as of late November 2025, is a link that leads to an information tab about the account. On November 22nd, Nikita Brier posted a tweet announcing the official rollout of the feature, writing, "In a couple hours, we'll be rolling out About This Account globally, allowing you to see the country or region where an account is based. This will be accessible by tapping the signup date on profiles."

The Verge^[9] reported on the "messy" rollout of the "About This Account" feature on November 23rd, 2025, saying that it caused "utter chaos" on the platform. Notably, the article highlights that "people who travel, or outlets with staff scattered around the globe, might appear to be “based” somewhere other than where they actually are, at least temporarily."

Spread

Several internet users began posting fake screenshots showing that certain accounts were based in developing countries, with India being a popular location for X accounts to mock.

On November 20th, 2025, X^[2] user @BehizyTweets posted, "WTF, Elon, TURN IT OFF." alongside a screenshot showing "Account based in India" appearing on his bio.

On November 21st, 2025, X^[4] user @ZardSi wrote, "Well 🇮🇳 Well 🇮🇳 Well 🇮🇳 Well 🇮🇳 Well 🇮🇳" alongside a screenshot showing that a "Mossad" commentary account was supposedly based in India.

Also on November 21st, X^[5] user @himalayan_fairy tweeted, "First victim," alongside a screenshot of the account "Indians taking Ls" supposedly being based in Bangladesh.

That same day, Twitter / X^[6] head of product Nikita Bier tweeted, "Announce an upcoming Country-of-Origin feature / Go silent for 2 weeks / Suddenly announce that it’s launching soon / Release it on everyone’s profile—but users can only see their own country / Everyone is confused why it’s private / So they post screenshots of the feature, helping us advertise it and showing us bugs with the data before showtime / Launch the feature."

On November 22nd, X^[12] user @BMIH_05 posted a GIF version of a TikTok that was originally posted by Instagram^[13] page @_erac on August 18th, gathering over 900,000 likes in three months. The post read, "New Twitter Update," and gathered over 76,000 likes in two days.

New Twitter Update: pic.twitter.com/m74eU6cJkc

— BMIH (@BMIH_05) November 22, 2025

DHS Twitter "Based In Israel" Rumor

On November 21st, X^[10] user @astrrals tweeted an unverified screenshot showing the official @DHSgov account being "based in" "Tel Aviv, Israel." The post gathered over 300,000 likes in three days.

On November 22nd, the official U.S. Department of Homeland Security X^[7] account posted a "Shocked Trump" reaction meme in response to an unconfirmed screenshot showing the account as "based in" Israel. The post gathered over 75,000 likes in a day.

Also on November 2nd, X^[8] account @lporiginalg tweeted a video supposedly showing the @DHSgov account showing "Israel" as its location, writing, "The official DHS account was revealed to have been created in Israel. I saw a screenshot of this and assumed it was a joke, but apparently it's real and confirmed by Grok. The geolocating features were disabled shortly after going live." The post gathered over 1 million views and 29,000 likes, and prompted a critical response from Nikita Brier, who called it "fake news."

This is fake news. Location was not available on any gray check account at any point. Furthermore, the DHS has only shown IPs from the United States since account creation.

— Nikita Bier (@nikitabier) November 23, 2025

@Ysmammri is an Indian Man Conspiracy Theory

On November 20th, 2025, X^[3] user @ayeejuju posted, "LMFAOOOO this gotta be the one good thing Elon has done to this app 💀," alongside a screenshot showing "Account based in India" appearing on X user @ysmammri's profile. The post gathered over 40,000 likes in a day.

On November 22nd, X^[11] user @bajanbiatch reacted to @ysmammri being accused of being an Indian man catfishing as a Black woman, showing how the user stole someone's selfie and altered it to pass it off as their own. The post gathered over 60,000 likes in two days.

Also on November 22nd, X^[14] user @mars444444444 tweeted, "This dude BEEN catfishing as different girls, I found an archive 💀💀💀," gathering over 1,000 likes on a tweet that linked to an Internet Archive page.

This dude BEEN catfishing as different girls, I found an archive 💀💀💀https://t.co/1HWOo2iKnH pic.twitter.com/vZ6wiRJ7oI

— ­­­­­ܿ (@mars444444444) November 22, 2025

Various Examples

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Search Interest

External References