The latest update on X, which displays the country or region where an account is operating, has triggered scrutiny of Chinese accounts that have long claimed to be located abroad.

Users discovered that many such profiles appear to be logging in from inside China without using VPNs.

Experts say the findings suggest some accounts could be operated by Chinese state-authorized personnel, including prison inmates assigned to online propaganda work for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). 

The feature, launched on Nov. 22, allows users to view basic background information about any account, including the date joined, previous username changes, and the region where the app most recently connected. It does not reveal full IP addresses but does indicate whether a VPN is being used.

​​Human Rights in China, a U.S.-based NGO, posted several examples of accounts that had long presented themselves as part of the overseas Chinese diaspora—including in the United States—but now show recent activity originating inside China with no VPN flag.

Accessing foreign social media platforms without a VPN is generally not possible in China unless the user has government authorization. The CCP’s strict online censorship regime blocks any platform that is not controlled and moderated by the regime’s censors. 

The CCP’s ‘Cyber Army’

“Inside China, only a small number of government-authorized entities or personnel are able to directly access foreign social media platforms without a VPN,” he said. “The accounts in question are very likely operated either by prison inmates assigned to online propaganda work in exchange for reduced sentences, or by state-approved online commentators.”

Hsieh said this kind of state-linked online activity is typically designed to mimic organic overseas Chinese voices in order to amplify Beijing’s political narratives. The new X feature makes those operations more vulnerable since the CCP’s disguise collapses instantly once the location shows China, instead of the United States or Taiwan, he said. For those propaganda accounts, they lose credibility immediately. 

Hsieh’s speculations align with past reports suggesting that the Chinese regime outsources online propaganda tasks to a mix of state employees, contractors, and prison labor—as part of the CCP’s broader online influence apparatus.

Sophisticated Actors Can Still Evade Detection

Lin Song, who has a doctorate in political science from the University of New South Wales in Australia, said the X update is a useful first step toward identifying foreign propaganda, though he said that the platform’s algorithm does not by itself prove account ownership.

“China enforces extremely strict controls over its domestic online accounts, requiring real-name verification with an ID and a linked mobile number, but international platforms, [such as X], have lacked similar measures, creating space for the CCP to use Western social media platforms for political propaganda,” he said. 

A Growing Tech Race

“If a cluster of accounts turns out to be posting from the same facility in China, that may corroborate reports that prison inmates are being used for propaganda work,” he said.

Experts expect a continued tech race between platforms seeking to verify account authenticity and influence networks attempting to evade detection. But Hsieh said even partial transparency can shift the balance. 

“The hardest part of [online] cognitive warfare is determining attribution and responsibility,” he said. “X’s new feature significantly lowers the cost for other countries to identify state-backed online propagandists.”

Li Jing and Luo Ya contributed to this report.