{"id":11933,"date":"2025-11-27T14:02:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T13:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/?p=11933"},"modified":"2025-12-03T14:49:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T13:49:14","slug":"a-new-feature-on-x-old-accusations-in-the-tabloids-student-accounts-are-not-operated-from-croatia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/2025\/11\/27\/a-new-feature-on-x-old-accusations-in-the-tabloids-student-accounts-are-not-operated-from-croatia\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Feature on X, Old Accusations in the Tabloids: Student Accounts Are Not Operated From Croatia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Original article<\/em><\/a> (in Croatian) was published on 25\/11\/2025; Author: Teodora Koledin<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

A new feature<\/a> called \u201cAbout this account\u201d<\/strong> was recently introduced on the social network X<\/strong> (formerly Twitter), which allows users to find basic information about a profile. Based on this feature, several X users \u2013 followed by at least ten tabloids \u2013 have claimed that all (or nearly all) profiles of Serbian protesting students on X were created in Croatia, and that these accounts are also managed from that country. Craig Silverman<\/strong>, co-founder<\/a> of Indicator<\/em>, a publication reporting on digital deception, told Traga\u010d<\/em> that X has already had to remove parts of this feature due to inaccurate information<\/strong>. Our editorial team also found that most student blockade accounts were created via the Apple App Store registered in Serbia<\/strong>, with a significantly smaller number created through the store registered in Croatia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Posts accusing students of having X accounts created in Croatia have gained significant visibility on the platform. User Vuk\u0161a Dragovi\u0107 (@NaStraniNaroda)<\/strong> shared<\/a> a photo showing screenshots of six student blockade profiles whose account descriptions state that they are \u201cConnected via Croatia App Store.\u201d These are profiles of students in blockades from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad; Faculty of Sport and Physical Education; Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering; Higher Medical School in Belgrade; Faculty of Medical Sciences; and Faculty of Economics at the University of Kragujevac<\/strong>. Dragovi\u0107 added the following comment alongside the image:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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All student accounts are made in Croatia\u2026 \ud83e\udd26\u200d\u2642\ufe0f<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope you now understand why there was never any sound political thought, but only attempts to cause chaos on the streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is exactly the reason why no one is ever given blank support in politics. \ud83e\udd37\u200d\u2642\ufe0f<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

His post was shared <\/a>by Vladimir \u0110ukanovi\u0107<\/strong>, a member of parliament from the Serbian Progressive Party, who commented that it was \u201cunbelievable what the Croatian secret service has devised.\u201d Posts from users @AktivnoGlup<\/a> and @PrijateljNaroda<\/a> were also widely seen, similarly claiming that the student blockade accounts are managed from Croatia and implying that the student protests themselves are coordinated from there. The screenshots did not remain confined to Elon Musk\u2019s platform \u2013 for example, singer Jelena Karleu\u0161a<\/strong> shared them on her Facebook page<\/a>, noting that \u201cALMOST ALL BLOCKADE STUDENT ACCOUNTS\u201d<\/strong> were opened in Croatia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Do the Information Labels on X Actually Mean?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Before continuing, let\u2019s clarify what it means when a profile is listed as connected via the Apple App Store registered in Croatia. Until 2020<\/a>, iPhone users in Serbia could not select Serbia<\/em> when creating their Apple IDs<\/strong>, which grant access to all Apple services, including the App Store<\/strong>. Because of this, until 2020, many Serbian users chose <\/a>other countries for registration \u2013 very often Croatia<\/strong>, which was on the list of available countries. There is no indication in publicly available sources that users were ever required to switch their Apple ID region once Serbia was added, so it is no surprise that this information remains unchanged for many users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, profiles of blockade students created through the Croatian App Store are clearly in the minority<\/strong>. Traga\u010d<\/em> <\/a>found more than 30 student blockade profiles<\/strong> showing that their accounts were created via the X app downloaded from the App Store registered in Serbia<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silverman: The New X Feature Can Present Data Out of Context<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To learn more about this new platform feature, we contacted award-winning investigative journalist Craig Silverman<\/strong>. In his response, Silverman explained:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201c\u2018About this account\u2019 is a new feature, and X has already had to remove some of its components due to inaccurate information. People should be cautious and avoid drawing strong conclusions from what is shown, because sometimes the information can be incorrect or lack important context.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

He also addressed the claim being manipulated among Serbian users:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIt is perfectly logical that Serbian users who originally downloaded the X app from the Croatian App Store will have that information in the \u2018connected via\u2019 section. This does not<\/em> mean they are located in Croatia. Keep in mind that X displays only the data it can access \u2013 and that is not always the whole picture.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

We also found misinformation about \u201cstudent accounts connected to Croatia\u201d on numerous domestic portals \u2013 Politika<\/a>, Kurir<\/a>, Borba<\/a>.me<\/a>, Alo<\/a>, Informer<\/a>, B92<\/a>, NS U\u017eivo<\/a>, 24sedam<\/a>, Srbija Danas<\/a>, and Pink.rs<\/a>. For instance, Politika<\/em> claimed that \u201cmost blockade profiles are operated from Croatia,\u201d supposedly proving that \u201csecret services from the neighborhood control them, not the students.\u201d Based on Traga\u010d<\/em>\u2019s analysis, it is clear that the \u201cevidence\u201d referenced by Serbia\u2019s oldest daily newspaper is entirely unfounded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Original article (in Croatian) was published on 25\/11\/2025; Author: Teodora Koledin A new feature called \u201cAbout this account\u201d was recently introduced on the social network X (formerly Twitter), which allows users to find basic information about a profile. Based on this feature, several X users \u2013 followed by at least ten tabloids \u2013 have claimed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":11934,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[316],"tags":[29,86,28,548,558],"class_list":["post-11933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fact-checks","tag-croatia","tag-protest","tag-serbia","tag-students","tag-x"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11933"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11935,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11933\/revisions\/11935"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}