X launches “Manipulated media” labels, while eyebrows raise as Edward Snowden's account shows no location

X just rolled out this new thing where they tag posts with a “Manipulated media” label if the videos or images in them look doctored and meant to fool people. Folks are talking about it a lot because it’s part of a bunch of changes happening on the platform.

Take The Disgruntled Patriot’s post, for example. They spotted the Manipulated media tag on a post and asked if it’s a new feature. The tag was added under a post with a video showing that the DHS account was based in Israel. Turns out, the video was faked, and there’s no other proof of the account ever showing that it was based in Israel.

Many other accounts also chimed in to highlight the feature after the tag showed up on the post. That said, the label isn’t showing up on the web version of X, at least in my testing. It does, however, appear just fine in the app. 

Nikita Bier, the product head, said it was always from the US since the start. They even paused the location showing for a bit to sort out bugs, as we reported previously. But that mess showed how these labels can stop false stories from blowing up.

Clicking or tapping on the ‘Find out more’ text will take you to an “Authenticity” help page, where the guidelines mention the following:

Synthetic and Manipulated Media: You may not share inauthentic media, including, manipulated, or out-of-context media that may result in widespread confusion on public issues, impact public safety, or cause serious harm (“misleading media”). We may use our own technology or receive reports through partnerships with third parties in order to determine if media have been manipulated or presented out of context. In situations where we are unable to reliably determine if it is misleading media, we may not take action.

Now, on the flip side, Edward Snowden’s profile is turning heads because it doesn’t show any location at all. Mᜋtt posted about how Snowden leaves no traces, even though everyone knows where he really is. Some even jokingly begged him to teach the trick.

But it’s nothing sneaky or special from X. The platform just doesn’t display locations for accounts that haven’t been active in forever, with no fresh logins to grab data from. I gave this a quick test, and even PewDiePie’s page is the same way. He bailed on X ages ago, so no location there either.

That kills the conspiracy talk, but it does make you wonder about old accounts just hanging out.

While all this is going on, X added a quick way to sort your Following timeline by Most Recent or Popular. DogeDesigner shared the tip, saying tap the arrow by Following and pick what you want for a better scroll. It’s not huge, but it fits with everything else they’re tweaking.

These updates seem like X is trying to build more trust. With so much junk info out there, stuff like labels might help cut through the noise a little. But only time will tell if this flops or becomes the new standard that other platforms also adopt, like Community Notes.