Claim: X is making users’ bookmarked posts visible to the public.
Fact: Bookmarks remain private and only viewable to the user themselves, according to X’s Help Centre. There are no verifiable reports of the platform making such an announcement.
On 7 July 2024, user @DropPopNet alleged (archive) that X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, is now making users’ bookmarks public, indicating that anyone on the micro-blogging website will be able to view them in the near future.
The caption accompanying a visual — which shows a tab titled ‘Bookmarked by’ and listing some users — reads as follows:
“X/Twitter is experimenting with a new Bookmarks tab, where you can view who has bookmarked a Tweet/Post.”
According to @DropPopNet’s full bio on X, the account posts satirical content which “is not meant to be taken seriously.” However, this disclaimer is tucked away under the ‘View more’ option, a recent feature introduced by X for all Premium users. The fact that it is a “Parody account” is not made evident to users, unless they choose to click the ‘View more’ option, which led several social media users to take Drop Pop’s claim at face-value.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check first reviewed @DropPopNet’s bio, which states, “Dropping Pop since ‘10 | Follow us for daily pop news | DM for enquiries”.
However, in the account’s bio, we can also see a ‘View more’ option, a feature launched in December 2023 for “all Premium users on web and iOS”, according to a post by Adrian Carbone, the head of Products at X who works on the Expanded Bios feature. The full bio states, “Parody account. Not impersonating any news source. The content posted is satirical and is not meant to be taken seriously. Business enquiries, such as promotion? DM us.”
X announced the new feature on 6 December 2023, instructing X Premium users on how to edit their expanded bios. Elon Musk, the billionaire chief executive officer (CEO) of X Corp., also has an expandable bio and has talked about it on the platform.
X does not allow impersonation. In 2022, shortly after Musk officially acquired the platform, he also spoke about impersonation, stating that “accounts engaged in parody must include ‘parody’ in their name, not just in bio” and warning that “deliberate impersonation/deception will result in account suspension”. This came in the wake of several accounts impersonating the business magnate after he decided to do away with the verification for public figures and introduced X Premium, an optional subscription-based service that provides anyone who pays a blue checkmark, as well as other additional options not available to non-paying ones.
According to the ‘Bookmarks FAQ’ page on X Help Center, “Bookmarks are private and are only viewable to you within your X account.” The same is also mentioned on the ‘About Bookmark counts’ page, which states, “Bookmarks are still private and are only viewable to you within your X account. We only show the total number of Bookmarks, not the specific accounts that have added a post to their Bookmarks.”
Furthermore, on 21 January 2023, Musk reiterated on X that “bookmarks are *private*, unlike likes. No one other than you can see your bookmarks”. He had clarified the same back on 5 January 2023 and 31 December 2022.
Soch Fact Check also observed that the viral X post also has a Community Note — an X feature that aims “to create a better informed world by empowering people on X to collaboratively add context to potentially misleading posts” — attached to it, mentioning that it was made by a parody account.
We did not find any verifiable reports of the platform making such an announcement either.
Whether X makes bookmarks viewable to the public in the future, the claim stands false as of writing time.
Virality
Soch Fact Check noted that the viral X post has garnered more than 13.3 million views, as of writing time, with many users expressing shock and anger in the quote-posts here, here, here, here, and here.
The claim has been shared here, here, and here on Facebook.
On X, it was also shared here, gaining over 94,200 views as of writing time. It was also posted here, here, here, here, here, and here.
In one post, a user shared the screenshot of a summary created by Musk-founded artificial intelligence company xAI’s chatbot, Grok, which states at the bottom, “This story is a summary of posts on X and may evolve over time. Grok can make mistakes, verify its outputs.”
Conclusion: Bookmarks are private and can only be viewed by the user themselves, according to X’s Help Centre. The number of people who bookmarked a specific post is visible on the post itself, but the users’ identities are not. There are no verifiable reports of the platform making such an announcement either.
Background image in cover photo: Julian Christ
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