Elon Musk’s team at X.com, previously known as Twitter, has enabled a new calling feature for all users that could accidentally reveals your current location to anyone online. Until now, the functionality — which lets people call you on the app — was only available to paid subscribers.
But now CEO Elon Musk has enabled the feature for everyone and switched it on by default.
Unfortunately, this decision can enable callers on X to see the town, city, or exact postcode of the location where you’re using the app. That’s because the call feature reveals your IP address.
This is unique string of numbers assigned to your device every time you access the internet. It contains your rough location, including the country, area, and postcode as well as the name of your broadband provider.
By default, X users will be able to start audio and video calls with their followers, replicating functionality in popular messaging apps like WhatsApp and Instagram
X
IP addresses can be help determine a precise address and share it online — a practice known as “doxxing”. This awful form of cyberbullying is often used to extort favours, money or other benefits from victims, often resulting in abuse and humiliation.
Digital rights campaigners have lambasted X over the decision to enable the call feature by default for millions of accounts worldwide, calling it “a matter of life or death” for vulnerable campaigners who use the social media service to rally support.
Similarly, Mark Johnson of Big Brother Watch said the move could have "major ramifications" for vulnerable groups on X, including activists and journalists.
It’s unclear exactly when X enabled the feature for users worldwide.
If you still would like to use the audio and video call feature that’s now included free of charge to all X users, but limit the exposure of your IP address — you’ll need to tweak a few settings.
First up, launch the X app on your iPhone or Android phone. Click on your profile picture in the top left-hand corner of the screen, then head to Settings and Support > Settings and Privacy > Privacy and Safety. Scroll down and click on the Direct Messages banner.
Switch on the Enhanced Call Privacy toggle in the list. It will be toggled off by default.
According to X, enabling this feature will stop calls revealing your IP address to your contacts. In its support documentation, it reveals: "With this setting [Enhanced Call Privacy] enabled, your IP address will be hidden from people you call and receive calls from. Specifically, if both parties to a call have this setting disabled (which it is by default), once our servers facilitate the initial setup, the call itself is routed peer-to-peer such that each parties IP address may be visible to the other.
"However, if either party has this setting enabled, a call between the two will be relayed through X infrastructure, and the IP address of any party that has this setting enabled will be masked."
If you’d rather not allow followers to be able to call you on X at all, toggle off the option marked Enable Audio and Video Calling. Doing so will collapse all other options and prevent anyone on X from starting an audio or video call with you.
The latest controversy shows how easily personal information can be exposed online. If you want to shield your IP address from prying eyes, the best option is a Virtual Private Network, or VPN.
These clever applications route all your internet traffic through an encrypted tunnel so that even your broadband provider won’t be able to see what websites you’re visiting.
VPN providers can route that encrypted traffic through server locations across the globe, manually changing your IP address. That will add an additional layer of protection when using features like the peer-to-peer call feature in the X app on iPhone and Android.
For example, NordVPN boasts over 6,000 servers in 61 locations across the United States of America, mainland Europe, Africa, the UK, and Asia.
Choosing a server close to your current location can improve connection speeds, although changing your IP address to a far-flung destination can unlock new television shows and films to watch in the catalogue of your favourite streaming service.
The selection of shows is different in every country due to licensing rights. Although, you’ll need to check the small print to make sure that you’re not breaking any rules using a VPN in this manner.
