From the linked article:
Elon Musk’s X has pulled back the curtain on thousands of accounts found on the micro-blogging platform. The results have been shocking, entertaining and — for anti-Israel and/or antisemitic propagandists — deeply embarrassing.
[Those guys can be embarrassed? - JB]
Alongside the date when a user joined X/Twitter is new information: descriptions about where the account is based, and where it was first connected to the social media platform. Also included is information about how many times the user has changed their name.
For many years, Twitter/X had permitted its users to hide behind fake identities. While that still is the case, the new feature is revealing startling details about how truthful those accounts really are.
In particular, the new location feature has left the variously anti-Israel, antisemitic, pro-Palestine, pro-Hamas fringe reeling. A sampling of the revelations:
• “Motasem A Dalloul”, whose profile photo shows a bearded man in a flak jacket and helmet, is a self-described journalist professing to be reporting on atrocities committed by what he calls the “Israeli occupation”. He has nearly 200,000 followers, and his claims have often been republished by Western news agencies. X, however, says he joined Twitter via the Twitter store in the U.K. — and is based in Poland.
• “Torah Judaism” is an anti-Zionist account with 12,000 followers, and regularly attacks supporters of Israel. Torah Judaism claims to be based in New York — but is actually in the Philippines, says X.
• “Times of Gaza” proclaims it offers the “latest news, updates and top stories from occupied Palestine” and has nearly a million followers. It declares “Location: Palestine". But its real location, according to the platform? East Asia — and it was first connected to Twitter/X via the “North Africa App Store".
• “Tiberius”, an anti-Israel account ostensibly maintained by a far-Left British journalist, is in Thailand, X says, and has had 24 username changes in the past seven years.
• “Ameer from Gaza”, his profile complete with a tiny Palestinian flag, says he posts “from the heart of Gaza and the womb of suffering” and is part of “a family of five orphans who lost both of their parents”. Except the account is operating far from from Gaza, says X — in the United Kingdom.
• “Mohammad Smiry” professes to be “a Palestinian, born, raised and based in Gaza” and “tweets about my life under the occupation”. He has nearly a million followers, including many journalists in the West. His real location, according to X? Indonesia.
Other revelations shared by X follow the same disturbing trend. “North Gaza Survivors” is actually in Pakistan. “Rafah residents” in Indonesia. Hamas’ Nukhba special forces unit wasn’t in the Gaza strip, says X — it was uploading content from Malaysia. “Mahmoud in Gaza”, an account with 21,000 followers? It’s in the Netherlands.
There are hundreds of accounts like these — people claiming to be Palestinian and based in the Gaza strip, but actually posting content far from the frontlines in the Middle East. Many of them successfully seek donations, as well. But the anti-Israel users are based in Africa, Europe, Asia, and Canada.