World

‘Based in Russia’: What X’s new location tool does and doesn’t reveal

Published

3 months ago

December 1, 2025

‘Based in Russia’: What X’s new location tool does and doesn’t reveal

Dozens of pro-Russia and anti-EU accounts on X have been accused of misleading users after the platform rolled out a new transparency feature revealing where profiles are posting from, how they downloaded the app and when they joined.

The “about this account” tab, now visible on every profile, shows a user’s reported location. X warns that the feature may not be accurate, and can be affected by VPNs, travel or temporary relocations.

“This is an important first step to securing the integrity of the global town square. We plan to provide many more ways for users to verify the authenticity of the content they see on X,” announced the platform’s head of product, Nikita Bier, amidst longstanding criticism that fake and automated accounts flood X with misinformation.

The Cube, Euronews’ fact-checking team, could not independently verify the locations of X profiles.

Russian war bloggers ‘post from Ireland’

Since the update, X users have identified a cluster of Russian war bloggers whose accounts repeatedly post updates from inside Russia, yet X lists their locations as Ireland.

One example is Maryana Naumova, a Russian powerlifter turned “war correspondent” with more than 14,000 followers, whose stream of content shows her interviewing Russian soldiers and civilians.

Her most recent posts include clips linked from Rutube, a Russian video platform, claiming to locate her in the Russian town of Gorodets.

However, X’s data says Naumova is not in Russia, but in Ireland. X warns that her account shows signs she could be using a VPN that might inaccurately represent her actual location.

She’s one of several Russian war bloggers whose locations say they are in Russia, but whose X data traces them back to Ireland. Combined, they have thousands of followers.

Is the tool reliable?

Bier described the rollout as having some “rough edges”, adding that incorrect details would be “updated periodically based on best available information”.

By 24 November, he claimed the tool was “nearly 99.9% accurate”.

But Euronews can confirm notable inconsistencies. Over the weekend, the official Euronews account was incorrectly listed as being located in the United States. By Tuesday, this had shifted to France, where the company was founded and still has offices.

Experts have also noted that the platform provides no access to methods used to determine a user’s location, making its accuracy difficult to independently verify.

“It can be a useful tool for improving transparency as long as the data is accurate,” Philipp Darius, a postdoctoral researcher at the Hertie School’s Centre for Digital Governance, told The Cube. “But X should restore researchers’ access to its Research API and make the location data available there as well.”

“However, depending on the granularity, it can also cause privacy and security risks to users, for example, for journalists’ accounts in authoritarian states,” he added. “Without insight into the processes, it’s quite difficult. If X doesn’t share its methods, the data can’t be tested outside the platform.”

Darius also warned that a clustering of multiple accounts in one location could indicate a large VPN provider operating there, rather than provide clues about a user’s real location.

“Many Russian bloggers are very active online, but in Russia, many social media platforms are blocked. So people often use VPN services to re-route their internet traffic,” he told The Cube.

But whilst some users might be hiding their true location for personal or security reasons, others may be part of coordinated efforts.

“There can be many motives and backgrounds possible,” Darius said. “So this can reach from individuals, to organised influence campaigns, such as disinformation campaigns, to individuals with financial motivations, maybe to build a higher follower count and monetise posts.”

‘Unfiltered insights’ on Russia

The update has nevertheless provoked X users to point out how several large anonymous accounts have locations that do not necessarily match what they post, and raised questions about potentially fake and automated accounts.

A collection of accounts that post regular updates and photos about Russia, President Vladimir Putin and negative posts and videos about Ukraine and its politicians are all, according to X, not based in Russia.

Moscow has long been accused of sponsoring anonymous internet political commentators and trolls to orchestrate large-scale disinformation campaigns that spread pro-Putin and Kremlin propaganda online.

One account with more than 225,000 followers titled “RussiaNews” claims to be based in St Petersburg. X shows its location as the United Arab Emirates. The account has changed its username 10 times since it joined.

Another, a self-proclaimed spoof account titled “Vladimir Putin News”, is based in South Asia, according to X, although it clarifies in its biography that it isn’t based in Russia. A third, titled “Russian Army” with more than 69,000 followers, is also based in south Asia.

‘European’ accounts not in Europe?

The Cube has also found several accounts promoting negative content about migrants and the European Union whose locations X lists as outside Europe, despite the profiles presenting themselves as European.

One account under the name of Laure Krause posts in German under the tagline “News from Europe and the World”. Its updates cover a wide range of topics and regularly highlight crimes committed by asylum seekers or migrants.

Krause’s supposed channel says it’s based in “the EU”. However, X’s location data places it in western Asia.

Similarly, the account “Based Hungary” that claims to be based in northwestern Romania, and frequently shares anti-EU posts aligned with Hungarian government narratives, is listed by X as being in North America. The account has changed its username nine times since 2022.

Monetisation incentives

The majority of the accounts the Cube found to have locations incompatible with their profiles also had blue ticks and therefore subscribed to X’s premium feature, which allows users to potentially earn money from posts.

X users need to have at least 500 verified followers and 5 million impressions in the last three months to start monetising their content.

According to Darius, financial motives could indeed be a possible reason an account may be utilising a politically divisive topic from a totally different location to drive up clicks.

Political motives or organised influence campaigns are, however, not out of reach. Accounts posting from unexpected locations, particularly the Global South, may reflect the presence of English-speaking click workers employed at lower labour costs for information campaigns.

“Many of these false accounts present themselves as, for example, a Trump supporter and a mother from the Midwest, but they may actually be steered by foreign actors with strategic interests,” Darius said.

“Platforms have historically failed to conduct proper accountability checks on profiles or advertisements, especially when stricter checks might reduce their earnings,” he added. Identity verification on social media has also been criticised as weak, with multiple opportunities for users to exploit loopholes.

Overall, the tool may have temporarily increased transparency, but it is likely easy to circumvent.

“Whenever new rules are introduced, people adapt,” Darius said. “We may see more users relying on VPNs and routing their traffic through the United States.”

“But that comes with greater friction, because US IP addresses are more heavily monitored and often trigger additional CAPTCHAs or security checks,” he added.

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World

‘Peaky Blinders’ Movie Trailer: Cillian Murphy’s Tommy Shelby Goes to War Against His Son, Played by Barry Keoghan

Published

3 hours ago

February 19, 2026

Press Room

‘Peaky Blinders’ Movie Trailer: Cillian Murphy’s Tommy Shelby Goes to War Against His Son, Played by Barry Keoghan

Netflix has released the official trailer for “Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man,” with the original TV series star Cillian Murphy returning as Tommy Shelby. As revealed by the new trailer, Barry Keoghan plays a grown-up Duke Shelby, the illegitimate son of Tommy who’s now running the Peaky Blinders gang.

The trailer shows that the Peaky Blinders are terrorizing England, which is in upheaval during World War II.

“Your gypsy son is running Peaky Blinders like it’s 1919 all over again,” Ada Shelby (Sophie Rundle) tells Tommy, who is forced to return to his violent, old lifestyle and step up against Duke. Tim Roth plays a British Fascist sympathizer, who offers Duke a way to support Germany during the war. Eventually Tommy must remind everyone who he is and take a stand against Duke to save his city.

In addition to Murphy and Rundle, Stephen Graham and Ned Dennehy return as Shelby family allies Hayden Stagg and Charlie Strong, respectively. The cast also includes newcomers Rebecca Ferguson and Jay Lycurgo.

Tom Harper, who directed several episodes of the original “Peaky Blinders” series, helms the film. The show premiered on BBC in 2013, with Netflix later acquiring the U.S. rights. “Peaky Blinders” ended in 2022 after six seasons. The show was created by British screenwriter Steven Knight. A sequel series was picked up for two seasons by Netflix and BBC, with Murphy executive producing. According to the plot description, it takes place after “The Immortal Man.”

“After being heavily bombed in WWII, Birmingham is building a better future out of concrete and steel,” the logline says. “In a new era of Steven Knight’s ‘Peaky Blinders,’ the race to own Birmingham’s massive reconstruction project becomes a brutal contest of mythical dimensions. This is a city of unprecedented opportunity and danger: with the Shelby family right at its blood-soaked heart.”

“Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man” releases on Netflix on March 20.

Watch the trailer below.

World

US thwarted near-catastrophic prison break of 6,000 ISIS fighters in Syria

Published

4 hours ago

February 19, 2026

Press Room

US thwarted near-catastrophic prison break of 6,000 ISIS fighters in Syria

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EXCLUSIVE: This was the kind of prison break officials say could have changed the region, and perhaps even the world, overnight.

Nearly 6,000 ISIS detainees, described by a senior U.S. intelligence official as “the worst of the worst,” were being held in northern Syria as clashes and instability threatened the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, the guards responsible for keeping the militants locked away and preventing a feared ISIS resurgence. U.S. officials believed that if the prisons collapsed in the chaos, the consequences would have been immediate.

“If these 6,000 or so got out and returned to the battlefield, that would basically be the instant reconstitution of ISIS,” the senior intelligence official told Fox News Digital.

In an exclusive interview, the official walked Fox News Digital step by step through the behind-the-scenes operation that moved thousands of ISIS detainees out of Syria and into Iraqi custody, describing a multi-agency scramble that unfolded over weeks, with intelligence warnings, rapid diplomacy and a swift military lift.

US MILITARY LAUNCHES AIRSTRIKES AGAINST ISIS TARGETS IN SYRIA, OFFICIALS SAY

ISIS wives and children remain in “fragile” Syrian detention camps under Damascus control while male fighters transfer to Iraq, leaving detention crisis unresolved. (Santiago Montag/Anadolu via Getty Image)

The risk, the official explained, had been building for months. In late October, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard began to assess that Syria’s transition could tip into disorder and create the conditions for a catastrophic jailbreak.

The ODNI sent representatives to Syria and Iraq at that time to begin early discussions with both the SDF and the Iraqi government about how to remove what the official repeatedly described as the most dangerous detainees before events overtook them.

Those fears sharpened in early January as fighting erupted in Aleppo and began spreading eastward. Time was running out to prevent catastrophe. “We saw this severe crisis situation,” the official said.

U.S. ANNOUNCES MORE MILITARY ACTIONS AGAINST ISIS: ‘WE WILL NOT RELENT’

A fighter of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) holds an ISIL flag and a weapon on a street in the city of Mosul, June 23, 2014. (Reuters Photo)

According to the source, the ODNI oversaw daily coordination calls across agencies as the situation escalated. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was “managing the day to day” on policy considerations, while the ODNI drove a working group that kept CENTCOM, diplomats and intelligence officials aligned on the urgent question: how to keep nearly 6,000 ISIS fighters from slipping into the fog of war.

The Iraqi government, the official said, understood the stakes. Baghdad had its own reasons to move quickly, fearing that if thousands of detainees escaped, they would spill across the border and revive a threat Iraq still remembers in visceral terms.

The official described Iraq’s motivation bluntly: leaders recognized that a massive breakout could force Iraq back into a “2014 ISIS is on our border situation once more.”

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, the official said, played a pivotal role in smoothing the diplomatic runway for what would become a major logistical undertaking.

Then came the physical lift. The official credited CENTCOM’s surge of resources to make the plan real on the ground, saying that “moving in helicopters” and other assets enabled detainees to be removed in a compressed timeframe.

“Thanks to the efforts… moving in helicopters, moving in more resources, and then just logistically making this happen, we were able to get these nearly 6,000 out in the course of just a few weeks,” the official said.

ISIS FIGHTERS STILL AT LARGE AFTER SYRIAN PRISON BREAK, CONTRIBUTING TO VOLATILE SECURITY SITUATION

A view of Hol Camp, where families linked to the Islamic State group are being held, in Hasakah province, Syria, Jan. 21, 2026. (Izz Aldien Alqasem/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The SDF, had been securing the prisons, but its attention was strained by fighting elsewhere, fueling U.S. fears that a single breach could spiral into a mass escape. Ultimately, detainees were transported into Iraq, where they are now held at a facility near Baghdad International Airport under Iraqi authority.

The next phase, the official said, is focused on identification and accountability. FBI teams are in Iraq enrolling detainees biometrically, while U.S. and Iraqi officials examine what intelligence can be declassified and used in prosecutions.

“What they were asking us for, basically, is giving them as much intelligence and information that we have on these individuals,” the official said. “So right now, the priority is on biometrically identifying these individuals.”

The State Department is also pushing countries of origin to take responsibility for their citizens held among the detainees.

State Department is doing outreach right now and encouraging all these different countries to come and pick up their fighters, Fox News has learned.

While the transfer focused strictly on ISIS fighters, the senior intelligence official said families held in camps such as al-Hol were not part of the operation, leaving a major unresolved security and humanitarian challenge.

ISIS EXPLOITING SYRIA’S CHAOS AS US STRIKES EXPOSE GROWING THREAT

Syrian Democratic Forces fighters pose for a photo with the American flag after a victory ceremony announcing the defeat of ISIL on March 23, 2019, in Baghouz, Syria. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

The camps themselves were under separate arrangements, the official said, and responsibility shifted as control on the ground evolved.

According to the official, the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Syrian government reached an understanding that Damascus would take over the al-Hol camp, which holds thousands of ISIS-affiliated women and children.

“As you can see from social media, the al-Hol camp is pretty much being emptied out,” the official said, adding that it “appears the Syrian government has decided to let them go free,” a scenario the official described as deeply troubling for regional security. “That is very concerning.”

The fate of the families has long been viewed by counterterrorism officials as one of the most complicated, unresolved elements of the ISIS detention system. Many of the children have grown up in camps after ISIS lost territorial control, and some are now approaching fighting age, raising fears about future radicalization and recruitment.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Iraqi security forces pose with ISIS flag, which they pulled from University of Anbar on July 26, 2015. Forces clashed with ISIS militants inside the compound. (Reuters)

For now, the official said, intelligence agencies are closely tracking developments after a rapid operation that, in their view, prevented thousands of experienced ISIS militants from reentering the battlefield at once and potentially reigniting the group’s fighting force.

“This is a rare good news story coming out of Syria,” the official concluded.

Efrat Lachter is a world reporter for Fox News Digital covering international affairs and the United Nations. Follow her on X @efratlachter. Stories can be sent to efrat.lachter@fox.com.

World

Israel installed security at Epstein’s Manhattan apartment for ex-PM Barak

Published

5 hours ago

February 19, 2026

Press Room

Israel installed security at Epstein’s Manhattan apartment for ex-PM Barak

Investigative report reveals the Israeli UN mission coordinated with the convicted sex offender’s staff to secure a Manhattan residence.

The Israeli government installed security equipment and controlled access to a Manhattan apartment building managed by the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to an investigation published by Drop Site News.

Based on a tranche of emails recently released by the United States Department of Justice, the report detailed how Israeli officials coordinated directly with Epstein’s staff starting in early 2016 to secure a residence at 301 East 66th Street. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak frequently used the apartment for extended stays.

While the property was technically owned by a company linked to Epstein’s brother, Mark Epstein, the disgraced financier essentially controlled it. The units in the building were frequently loaned to Epstein’s associates and used to house underage models, the report said.

Barak served as prime minister from 1999 to 2001. Under Israeli law, former prime ministers receive state-funded security after leaving office. The documents expose a direct operational relationship between Israel’s permanent mission to the United Nations and Epstein’s enterprise.

Rafi Shlomo, the former director of protective services at the Israeli mission and head of Barak’s security detail, personally controlled access to the apartment. Shlomo conducted background checks on Epstein’s employees and cleaning staff and held meetings with them to coordinate the installation of surveillance equipment.

Coordinated surveillance

The structural modifications carried out by the Israeli government required permission from Epstein.

In a January 2016 email exchange, Barak’s wife, Nili Priell, discussed the installation of alarms and surveillance tools with Epstein’s longtime assistant Lesley Groff. Priell noted the system included sensors on the windows and remote access capabilities.

“They can neutralize the system from far, before you need somebody to enter the appartment [sic],” Priell wrote. “The only thing to do is call Rafi from the consulate and let him know who and when is entering.”

Groff later confirmed to Barak and Priell that Epstein had personally authorised the physical alterations to the property, writing: “Jeffrey says he does not mind holes in the walls and this is all just fine!”

The correspondence between the Israeli mission and Epstein’s representatives continued regularly throughout 2016 and 2017 to manage access for maids and coordinate subsequent visits by Barak.

State ties and political fallout

After Epstein’s death in a New York jail in 2019 while he was awaiting a sex-trafficking trial, Barak tried to downplay his relationship with the financier, claiming that while they had met, Epstein never supported or paid him.

The political fallout from the relationship has been seized upon by Barak’s rivals in Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently weaponised the newly released documents, arguing that the ties implicated Barak rather than Israel.

“Jeffrey Epstein’s unusual close relationship with Ehud Barak doesn’t suggest Epstein worked for Israel. It proves the opposite,” Netanyahu stated, accusing Barak of working with the “anti-Zionist radical left” to undermine Israel’s current government.

However, the emails released by the US Justice Department demonstrate that the entanglement extended beyond Barak to other active Israeli state officials.

Yoni Koren, a longtime aide to Barak who died in 2023, was also a frequent guest at the 66th Street apartment. Congressional investigations and leaked emails indicated Koren stayed at the Epstein-controlled residence multiple times, including in 2013 while he was serving as the bureau chief for the Israeli Ministry of Defence. Further records showed Koren continued to use the apartment while receiving medical treatment in New York until Epstein’s final arrest in 2019.

Intelligence and settler funding

The ties between Epstein and Israel have come into sharp focus since the release of millions of documents relating to the criminal investigations into Epstein. Beyond his interactions with members of the global elite, including Barak, the files document Epstein’s financial support for Israeli groups, including Friends of the Israeli army and the settler organisation the Jewish National Fund as well as his connections to the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency.

Barak has expressed remorse over his ties to Epstein. Despite the financier pleading guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008, which resulted in a prison sentence, Barak maintained a close personal and business relationship with him. The former Israeli leader claimed he remained unaware of the full scope of Epstein’s crimes until a wider federal inquiry was opened in 2019.