Samsung Electronics unexpectedly drew attention. The TV official account of Samsung Electronics' U.S. branch showed the "Connected via" field as "Korea App Store." Simply put, it means the manager of the Samsung product promotion account accessed it with an Apple device.

Posts spread across domestic and overseas online communities asking whether the operator of the Samsung TV U.S. account was using an "iPhone" rather than a Samsung "Galaxy." The access path is now changed to "Android App" or "Web."

The official Samsung TV account lists the app download source as "App Store." /Courtesy of SNS capture

According to the IT industry on the 1st, X added details to user profiles starting on the 21st of last month, including the current access country, the date of initial sign-up, the number of name changes, and the app download path. But as with the Samsung Electronics TV account case, there were many instances where user information appeared differently than expected.

Accounts that posted political content particularly came under scrutiny for nationality or access path. An account that identified as a supporter of President Lee Jae-myung and had posted pro-ruling party content on X showed its access location as China.

This account has posted 65,200 times since Jan. 2019. Among the content were statements such as "The 'Gukjim' (a slang term belittling the People Power Party) are indeed pro-Japanese traitors" and "Yoon Suk-yeol, who ruined the Republic of Korea and was even pro-Japan."

Another pro-ruling party-leaning account had its access location listed as Korea, but the X application download path appeared as China Android. Among accounts that posted conservative content, some reportedly had location information displayed as Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam and Cambodia.

X introduces a feature on the 21st that displays location information from member accounts. As a result, connection location—indicating how each account accesses X—and country of residence appear. The left image shows an account that posted feminism-leaning content in Japan as accessing from Korea. The right image shows a pro-ruling-party account, with suspicions raised that it accessed from China. /Courtesy of X capture

It is not unique to Korea. An X account that appeared to be a Japanese man writing feminist-leaning posts showed its nationality and location information as Korea, sparking controversy among Japanese internet users. In the United States, access locations for users who wrote posts supporting President Donald Trump or the Democratic Party appeared as Southeast Asian or African countries and are being used as fodder for political sparring.

As the problem grew, X added a feature to change the label from "country" to "continent." Some accounts changed the label to "East Asia & Pacific."

However, it is possible that misunderstandings arose because the location information displayed on X accounts was inaccurate. Users may have posted while traveling, or a previous internet protocol (IP) address may have been reflected. In fact, there have been multiple confirmed cases overseas where devices were automatically recognized as Apple-based or were exposed incorrectly.

X also said, "We may receive location-related information such as IP addresses, precise location information via GPS, or information about wireless networks and cell towers near mobile devices," while noting, "The registered information may not be 100% accurate."

There are said to be error cases with access paths as well. A Samsung Electronics official said, "Samsung TV's content was produced in Korea using a Samsung Electronics laptop," adding, "It is presumed to be an error by X in location and access path."

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